The Promise
by JenGambale
Summary: Edward loses the fight against James and dies. Bella is devastated but tries to slowly get her life back together with the help of the remaining Cullens. But one day she is told that Edward still lives in another world and that he can be brought back...
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wanted to write this FanFiction after I saw the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. I've written her a PM a few weeks ago to ask her if I could use this plot. Unfortunately, she hasn't answered yet because she hasn't been on YT for quite a while. I decided to load up the Prologue and the first chapter anyway and give her the link, so she can read it when she's back online and decide, if I can keep publishing it here or if she doesn't like it. I really hope she will like it, though. :) I think, the plot is amazing, that's why I wanted to make it a FanFiction. You can check out the video here: youtube watch?v=0sUxWQTkR9g ( FF .net can't put in a real link, dunno why °_°)

I hope you enjoy it. And please review! :)

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**PART 1 - BELLA**

**Prologue**

„Bella? Are you awake? Can you hear me?" The voice was very low. It faded in very slowly and apart from the beeping of a nearby machine, I couldn't hear anything else. When I opened my eyes, I was blinded by the light, so I shut them again instantly. A few seconds later, I gave it another try. I blinked a few times, until my eyes got used to the brightness. When I was finally able to make out shapes and silhouettes, I recognized that I was lying in a hospital bed. Sitting on the edge of it, a very concerned look on her face, was Alice.

"Al-!" When I tried to put myself into a sitting position, a sharp pain shot through my limbs. I gasped in shock. Alice's hands were on my shoulders in a flash, pushing me back. "Stop, the doctor said you can't move! Your leg is broken," she hissed.

"What- what happened?" I asked. I looked around the room but there was no one else.

Alice was silent for a few minutes. "We were almost too late to save you," she whispered. "James was just about to bite you when Emmett, Jasper and I arrived. We were able to pull him away from you just in time. Jasper and Emmett scared him pretty good, so he ran off. I don't think he will be coming back very soon."

I nodded, grabbing my head. It felt so dull. "They gave you medicine for the pain," she answered my silent question. I couldn't help but to smile. Mind reader for a second. Which reminded me on the actual mind reader in her family.

My smile dropped a little. "Alice?" I began. "Where is Edward?"

And suddenly, there was an expression on Alice's face I'd never seen before. Pain. The last rest of my smile was wiped off.

"Alice?" She didn't answer for the first couple of minutes. Just when I was about to sit up again to shake the answer out of her, she whispered, so low that I almost didn't hear it,

"He's gone."


	2. And thus I was alone

**Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

Enjoy your reading. And please review! :)

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**And thus I was alone**

_There was a fire in the ballet studio when they arrived. __The pixie-like girl looked for the only beating heart that would be in the building. She found it crumbling on the floor, with a leg that was clearly broken and a piece of glass sticking in it. She and the two men beside her smelled the blood over the burning wood. The tracker was beside the human, clasping her wrist, ready to bite. She couldn't see her brother anywhere. Where was he? He was a lot faster than the rest of them, he should've been here already. She didn't think that thought any further when the tracker opened his mouth and lowered his teeth to the human girl's wrist. The two men she had brought with her raced to him in a flash and fired him across the hall, away from the girl. The pixie was on the human's side in an instant. She tried to ignore the smell of blood and took a look at her injuries. Her companions were snarling at the tracker, ready to kill him. They attacked again. She didn't pay attention to them as she pulled the piece of glass out of the girl's leg. "Your belt, Alice," her father said when he appeared on her side. She followed his order and he pulled the belt tight just above of the girl's wound. "She's losing too much blood. We need to get her to a hospital," he said. Alice looked around to see how Jasper and Emmett were doing. James just vanished through the double-doors. Jasper was staring at the fire on the floor. Alice suddenly realized that the pile of wood in it just didn't smell right. Slowly, she stood up, never taking her eyes away from the flames. "By the way, Alice, where is Ed-?" Carlisle didn't finish. The tiny vampire walked to the fire in a very slow pace. And then it hit her why the fire didn't smell right. Because there was a familiar smell in it. A too familiar smell. Bella was still unconscious, so Carlisle carefully picked her up and joined his three children by the fire. All four of them couldn't take their eyes from it. None of them blinked and none of them moved. Because they all knew now why Edward hadn't been here when they had arrived. Why there was a fire on the floor. And why there was a familiar smell in that fire. Edward Cullen had lost. _

I woke up with a scream.

Heavily breathing, I looked around, just to remember that I was in my room and that it had been three months since the love of my life was gone. A sob rose in my throat. The dream I'd had wasn't a dream. Edward was gone. And I would never see him again.

I jumped when the door got kicked open and Charlie stormed in. He sighed heavily when he saw me crying. "Was it that dream again?" he asked and sat down on the edge of my bed. I just nodded, wiping the tears away. "Bells," he began, leaning his head, "I'm so sorry what happened with Edward. But… it's been three months. It's time for you to pick up your life again. Today's your first day of senior year."

Indeed it was. When I took a look at the clock that was on my nightstand, I saw that it was almost six in the morning. I sighed. No sense in trying to go back to sleep. "Bells," Charlie reminded me of his presence. "I know," I said after a few seconds, "I'm sorry for waking you." He chuckled. "Actually, it was pretty good that you woke me. I just discovered that my alarm is broken. Would be late if it weren't for you." He tried to sound ironic. I gave him a half-hearted smile and climbed out of my bed. "Well, why don't I try to make breakfast for a change?" He looked at me. "Pancakes okay?" I nodded curtly and he left the room, closing the door behind him.

As soon as the door was shut, the pain was back. I sat back down. I had spent the first two weeks after the ballet studio incident in a hospital in Phoenix, recovering from both my broken leg and my incurably broken heart. Then I had been moved to the hospital in Forks. I had wondered why none of the… remaining Cullens had come to visit. I hadn't seen Alice ever since she had told me… the outcome of the fight. When Angela had visited me to help me with keeping up with homework, she had told me that the Cullens didn't come to school anymore. Carlisle hadn't been in the hospital either. All the nurse had known was that Dr Cullen and his family had gone on a long holiday to recover from their loss. The official story of Edward Cullen's death was that after he had heard of me "falling down two flights of stairs and through a window", he had taken a rent car to drive to the hospital to see me; but on his way, he had to get out of the way of some animal on the highway and his car had turned over several times. There had been a gas leak which caught fire and the car had exploded. Only pieces and traces of clothes left.

Great Hollywood story. I wondered how many people had actually believed that.

I took my time to get dressed. When I got downstairs, I could smell the slightly burned pancakes. Charlie handed me a plate with a stack of them and I sat down. We ate quietly. I didn't pay attention to the taste of the pancakes. I always tried to keep my head as numb as possible, so the pain wouldn't overwhelm me when I thought about Edward.

When I finally left for school, I felt exhausted. I turned the radio on and put it on full volume. The drive didn't last long. Soon, I pulled in the parking lot of Forks High, got out of the truck and took a look around. I cringed, once I realized that I was looking for the silver Volvo. I fought back a sob and rushed across the lot to get to the entrance. Inside of the main building, I got my new schedule and I ran off to my first class, Calculus. I didn't pay attention to my surroundings when I entered the room and sat down at a table that was far back. It was just then when I realized that it was dead quiet in the room. I looked up. Half the class was already here and quietly staring at me. They must have stopped talking when I'd entered.

They stirred uncomfortably when I watched them. Of course. They knew. Edward Cullen was dead and his girlfriend was left behind. Nice.

I lowered my gaze and opened my book. I didn't read any of the lines on the page I'd turned to randomly. Slowly, the talking continued. A few minutes later, the teacher entered the room and everyone settled down. But just as he was to start the class, the door opened again and a tiny girl jumped in, apologizing for being late. I gasped.

The teacher nodded. "Take a seat, Miss Cullen," he just said. I couldn't believe my eyes as I watched Alice walking down the aisle and sitting down on the table next to mine. She threw me a sad smile. "Hey, Bella," she whispered. I examined her. She looked exhausted, something I'd never thought possible with a vampire. "What-?" I started. "I thought you were gone? I thought you would never come back." My throat hurt from my fight against the tears. "Later," she just said. I couldn't pay attention to class, I couldn't help but to stare at her the whole time.

When the bell rang for lunch break, I realized that she had been in all my classes the whole morning. When we walked to the cafeteria together, my gaze finally dropped to the ground. I couldn't look at her. Usually, Alice was perfectly dressed. Now, she wore two pieces together that didn't fit at all. They were sloppy, too, like she hadn't changed them for weeks.

As we entered, my eyes wandered to the Cullen table. I expected to see Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie sitting there but they weren't. Then I remembered that they had graduated. I wanted to go to the table to sit down but Alice approached the line at the food counter. "Alice, can't we just talk?" I asked after I had caught up. "No," she said. "You will eat first." "I'm not hungry," I argued. "Yes, you are," she snapped. "And I won't talk until you've eaten something." I flinched at the coldness in her voice. I wasn't used to getting snapped at by Alice.

I got myself a small salad. When we sat down at the Cullen table, she sighed heavily. Then she said, "Eat." I didn't object. I hurried and almost choked on a tomato. Alice handed me the coke she had bought and I emptied it in a flash. Then I put the can down and looked in her golden eyes.

"How are you, Bella?" she finally asked. I shrugged. "Honestly?" I said. "I feel like I'm dead. Like he took my heart and my soul with him." She nodded. "How about you guys?" I asked in return. Now it was her turn to shrug. "Not good, either," she said. "Coming around somehow. The first few weeks were so hard that we purposely stopped hunting. But eventually, the thirst became too much." My eyes widened in horror. "Don't worry, we weren't anywhere near humans around that time. No one was harmed," she hastily assured me when she saw my face. "Where were you? Everyone said you were on a 'holiday' but no one knew if it was just that or if you moved," I asked. "We were at Denali's," she answered. "And we weren't sure either if we should ever come back. But I was worried about you and so was Esme. So we decided we should at least come back to check on you."

The tears started flowing. "I miss him so much, Alice. He was everything to me," I sobbed. She nodded sadly. "I miss him, too. He's been my brother for half a century. Carlisle hasn't gone back to work since… then. His control has weakened, something that hasn't happened since he was turned. He can't stand the blood anymore."

"That's horrible," I said, shocked. "Will he be okay again?" Alice shrugged. "Eventually, I hope. Esme is trying to take his mind off things." I pondered. "What about the future?" I finally asked. She shrugged again. "We're all devastated. Right now, no one knows what we're gonna do next." "What about me?" I asked further. "Did you see anything about me?" "Hmm," she began, wandering with her eyes, "not really. I know you've thought a lot when you were in the hospital. One of those thoughts was the reason I convinced everyone to come back." She looked me deeply in the eyes, now that cold expression on her face again.

"Bella," she said clearly, "you can never, _ever _think about suicide again! He wouldn't want that! I don't want that!" I flinched. "Why do you care?" I finally said. "If not now, one day you will be gone, too. When you all can't stay here any longer because you look too young for being the age you supposedly are." I lowered my gaze. "And without Edward, there is no sense for me to live any longer, or be turned."

Alice grabbed my hand. "Look at me, Bella," she demanded. I did. "I care because I love you like a sister, Bella. Edward's end hasn't changed that," she continued. "And Esme loves you, too, just like Carlisle. We all love you and we will always care about you." I wept loudly. Several heads turned in the cafeteria but I didn't care. Alice came around the table and closed her arms around me in a hug.

We stayed like this until the bell rang and everyone stood up to get to their next classes. After I'd wiped off all my tears, I pulled my schedule out to see what was my next class. History. No more Biology. I had asked Charlie to call the school and get Biology off my schedule when I'd been transferred to the hospital in Forks. Too many happy memories that now stung like hell.

When I picked up my things and left the cafeteria with Alice, I realized she had this class with me, too. "You're in all my classes?" I asked when we entered the room. She nodded. "I wanted to keep an eye on you," she said. I just nodded.

History wasn't entertaining, just like English. When the bell finally rang to end the day, Alice walked me to the truck and stayed until I'd climbed in. "Do you want me to come with you, keep you company til your Dad's home?" she asked me. I thought about it for a moment. But then I shook my head. "No, thank you," I said. "I need time alone. See you tomorrow."

"Okay," she said. "Don't forget to eat." She stepped away when I started the truck. I waved at her for the last time and then pulled out of the parking lot to drive home.

And thus I was alone.


	3. Routine

******Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

Please review! If you want me to continue this story, tell me! x3

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**2. Routine**

When I got to school the next day, I was surprised to see Emmett's truck and Rosalie's convertible in the parking lot. When I entered the classroom for my first subject, Alice was already sitting in the same chair she had taken yesterday. I walked over to her and sat down on my chair. I just wanted to ask her what her siblings were doing here, when my teacher came in, Rosalie right behind him. Not only I, but everyone else in my class, apart from Alice of course, had questioning expressions on their faces.

"Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!" the teacher greeted the class. "You're probably wondering what Ms Hale is doing here. Long story short, the school is currently offering positions as teacher's assistants for the first month of this semester. Ms Hale here, her brother Jasper and Mr Cullen have all three signed up for it, for the simple reason that something like this looks good on a college application. I expect you to give Ms Hale the same respect you're giving me."

A few girls snorted, but got cut off the second Rosalie threw them a deathly glare. I couldn't help my smile. Any girl who was trying to mess with Rosalie Hale was dead meat.

During the class, the beautiful blonde helped handing out papers to study with, explained some math routines at the blackboard and made sure the whole class kept quiet when it was supposed to.

When the bell ended the first period, I was wondering if I would see Emmett and Jasper in class, too. My question was answered, as soon as I walked into the gym for P.E. two hours later. Emmett was standing next to Coach Clapp. I was shocked of how exhausted he looked.

I could hear my classmates whisper that the Cullens probably did this to distract themselves from Edward's- a new wave of pain washed over my heart. I took a deep breath and let the numbness come back. Alice shot me a worried look. P.E. was a good distraction. I threw myself fully into the game, something I'd never done before because of my clumsiness. But I didn't care for my clumsiness anymore. Every possible physical pain was better than the one my heart had to endure.

When I walked into the cafeteria an hour later, I was physically exhausted, but also too tired to think about anything really. Alice walked to the food counter, like she had yesterday. I sighed and followed her. The pixie vampire watched me carefully as I bought a tuna sandwich and some orange juice. She didn't buy anything herself this time. When we made our way to the Cullen table, I heard Mike call for me. "Go," Alice said. "You might want to hear what he has to say." She continued approaching the Cullen table while I curiously joined Mike, Angela, Eric, Tyler and Jessica at theirs.

"Hey, Bella," Angela greeted me with a smile. "Hey," I just said and sat down, with a last look at the Cullen table. Jasper, Emmett and Rosalie were sitting there, joined by Alice. "So, um," Mike started, "how have you been?" He looked uncomfortable, like he knew how risky it was to ask me that question. I didn't answer; I shrugged instead, unfolding the polythene sheet that was around the sandwich. He cleared his throat. "You know," he said, "I was just wondering… my mom needs another employee for our store. You know, hunting and hiking season is coming up, which means, it will probably become really hectic the next couple of months. And, well, she asked me, if any of my friends were willing to help, and I thought of you, because I thought it would maybe be a distraction from… you know, unless you don't want that stress and all." I looked at him in awe. I had never seen Mike being so considerate before. I let myself take a bite from the sandwich before I answered him. "Um," I then began, "um, yeah. Absolutely. Hectic and stress is good, I could really need that."

I gave him a thoughtful nod. His face brightened up. "Great!" he said, leaning back in his chair. "So, when do I start?" I asked him. "Well, you could stop by after school, you know, to let my mom know. And if you're not too busy today, you could start right then. I can show you everything you would have to do," he offered. "Okay," I nodded.

"So,… are your classes okay?" Angela asked me. "Do you need any help? You know, because you transferred from Trig to Calculus this year." Realization struck me. "You're in my Calculus class?" I asked numbly. Angela nodded. "You don't have to feel bad for not recognizing me there. I know you and Alice are trying your best to stay… normal," she assured me. "I'm so sorry, Angela," I whispered. She grabbed my hand. "I told you, it's okay." She smiled at me. "Just tell me if you need any help."

From the corner of my eye, I could see Jessica roll her eyes in annoyance. Eric punched her in the arm and threw her a reproving look. I knew that Jessica didn't like me as much as she made everyone believe. She loved getting all the attention and hated it when someone else got it. Especially me. I didn't care, though. Eric, Angela and Mike were the human friends I cared about most. For the rest of the lunch break, I quietly ate my sandwich and drank my juice, all the while watching the Cullen table. Every once in a while, Alice, Jasper and Emmett would throw me concerned looks.

When the bell rang for the 6th period, I walked out of the cafeteria with Eric and Mike, both trying to make comfortable conversation. Alice and Jasper silently joined us. When we walked into History class, Jasper joined our teacher at the blackboard, while Alice and I sat down next to each other in the back row. We didn't talk when the bell ended the 7th period. Like yesterday, she walked me to my truck. "Have fun," she said before I closed the driver's door. Then she walked to Rosalie's car, jumped in and they left the parking lot before I had pulled the truck out of my space, Emmett's jeep right behind them.

I waited until Mike had pulled out with his suburban and then followed him. The drive to _Newton's Olympic Outfitters_ didn't take long. We were there within ten minutes. When we walked in, Mike's mom was standing behind the cashier, talking to a customer. "Hey, mom," Mike greeted her, once the customer had left. "Hey, Mike, how was school?" she responded. "Good," he said and then pointed at me. "This is Bella Swan. She'd like to have the job."

"Ah, Charlie's girl," she said and smiled at me. "Karen Newton," she introduced herself, offering her hand. I shook it, shyly smiling back at her. She asked me a few questions, avoiding the taboo topic. Five minutes later, I officially had the job. Mike showed me around the store, told me where everything was shelved and explained what I had to do.

After I had called Charlie, telling him that I would come home later, I started my new job. I felt comfortable with it, surprisingly. For the first day, I only helped at the cashier. Mrs Newton would show me tomorrow how to consult the customers.

And that became my routine. I woke up, I ate breakfast. Then I headed to school, attending my classes, closely watched by Alice and the others. At lunch, I would sit with my human friends, always watching the Cullen table. After school, I drove to work with Mike and stayed there until 6.30. Then I would drive home, cook dinner for me and Charlie and do my homework. And not to forget the nightmares.

I never saw Edward being destroyed, always just the events after that. Alice and the others arriving while I was already unconscious. Them realizing that Edward was gone. I didn't know if it really had happened exactly that way. I'd thought about asking Alice a couple of times but the pain always struck me like a bolt of lightning whenever I considered it.

Jacob came by every once in a while, trying to convince me to come to La Push some time. I never did it, though. La Push was another thing that reminded me too much of him, although we'd never been there together. But it was the place where I'd first get to know what he had been. And it hurt even more that he was gone, considering that.

Everyone was worried about me. Charlie, my mom, Phil, my human friends, my vampire friends. And they were right. I wasn't well. I was far from well. I was even miles away from OK. Or acceptable. My whole life had become a never-ending nightmare. The dream every night, and the realization every morning that it wasn't just a dream. Life's a bitch, some people say. But that's not true. Life is human. Death is a vampire. Either of them can be bitches sometimes, you just had to look at Jessica and Rosalie. But that's not what they really are. They're just plain unfair.


	4. Dreams

**Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:**I know, this chapter is very short, but I had the feeling, it's better to keep this a single chapter.

I hope you like it. Please review!

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**3. Dreams**

_On the night to my 18th birthday, my dreams changed. _

_There was no James._

_No fire._

_No Cullens who found out the love of my life was dead._

_Not even me._

_I saw Edward._

_At least I think I did._

_He wasn't the Edward I knew, the Edward with the pale skin and the golden eyes._

_He was human._

_He was beautiful._

_His green eyes, which I'd never seen before, were beautiful._

_His crooked smile was beautiful._

_This must have been his human life._

_He was in a school._

_They were in a big hall._

_The lights were dimmed._

_He and the other students were waiting for something._

_When a sonorous voice spoke, the words were chopped off, "Th.. cha..ion for Ho..ts School.. ..ed..c ..gor.."_

_Applause broke out._

_Edward smiled brightly and stood up._

_He walked up to the man who showed him a door at the left side of a podium where a long table with who I presumed to be the teachers stood._

_I saw him go toward the door and close it behind him after he had gone through._

For the first time in months, instead of a scream, I woke up with a smile.


	5. Birthday

**Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N: **Soooo, I finally finished the new chapter and I have to admit that I really like it! :3 It's also quite longer than the others.

I really hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! And please leave a review! :)

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**4. Birthday**

On my birthday after school, Alice and Jasper took me out to Seattle. During the car drive, I was sunk in my thoughts. From time to time, I would take a look at Jasper and Alice, who sat in the driver's and passenger's seat. They looked so happy, though I could tell that they tried their best not to show it.

This was the first time in months that I was able to think about Edward without cringing in pain. Mostly because Jasper suppressed it. It felt relieving. I was able to think back to when I had first seen _him_ in the cafeteria half a year ago. How awkward he had reacted in our first biology class together. How he hadn't shown in school for a week afterwards. The night he had saved me in Port Angeles. The moment I had found out what he was. My first time seeing him in the sunlight. His sparkling skin had been so beautiful. The Cullen house. His room. Our trip to the top of the trees. Our first kiss. I missed his lips so much.

And the baseball game. Everything had started with the baseball game.

These past months, so many thoughts of mine had begun with a "What if..?". What if I hadn't agreed to coming along to the baseball game? What if Charlie had forbid it? What if there hadn't been a thunderstorm? What if Alice had foreseen sooner that the nomads would come?

So many worthless what ifs. It had happened. None of us could change that.

"Bella?"

I raised my head. Alice was looking at me from the front. "We're here," she said.

I got out of the car and looked around. We were standing in front of a giant shopping mall that said _Bellevue Square_.

"I thought we were going to Seattle," I said.

"We were, originally," Alice confirmed. "But I googled a little bit yesterday and came across this mall. So I thought we could come here."

I sighed. Objection was useless, especially because Jasper changed my mood to excitement. "Sure," I said, a beaming smile, that was way too bright to be real, on my face.

"Then come on! I read there's a Burberry store here! I love Burberry!" she said and pulled me after her.

I was amazed by how well she was able hide her sorrow. But maybe Jasper was influencing her, too. I peeked at him. He had the same pained expression on his face as usual. I knew how hard it was for him to withstand my blood. But that surely wasn't the only reason for his face today.

We all were suffering and mourning. That we were suffering and mourning together didn't really ease the pain, but it felt comforting. Jasper was able to ease our pain when he wanted, or needed, to but as far as I knew it didn't work on himself. That must have been hard. He must have been carrying such a heavy burden.

I promised myself to buy something for him as a thank you. I pondered how much money I got with me. If I wasn't mistaken, the last time I'd checked, there had been 36 dollars and 89 cents in my wallet. Compared to the Cullens' fortune that was almost nothing but wasn't it the thought that counted?

Alice had spotted the Burberry store and pulled me a little harder. We had barely entered it, when she already picked out clothes to hold them on me. "Nah," she murmured. "Earth tones are best." She went for dark blue, green and brown clothes while I was in thought about what to give Jasper.

"Okay, try these on, Bella." Alice had come back, a dark grey lace top with gathered epaulette and skinny leg jeans in her left, and a dark blue long jacquard check cardigan and a lightweight nylon quilted cropped jacket in her right hand. She pushed me toward the fitting rooms and, once I was in one, handed me the clothes. While I tried them on, I realized that they were worth a total of $2,780.

The first items I put on were the top and the jeans. Then I pulled back the curtain, so Alice could start her examination. While she plucked something here and twitched something there, she whispered, "There are cool $25 sunglasses in a store on Level 3. He will love them."

"Thanks," I whispered back, smiling.

„They're perfect, we'll take them," she said. "Try the cardigan and jacket. They'll look so good on you." I grinned and went back to my fitting room. 10 minutes later, we left the Burberry store, all four items in a fancy Burberry bag.

Alice sent Jasper to get something to drink for me and then pulled me to the store on Level 3. "Which ones?" I asked her.

She gestured me to follow her and went to the back of the store. There was a rack with sunglasses under $50. She picked the ones out she had seen in her vision. They really were nice, considered that they were so inexpensive. There were on sale, I found out when I checked the price tag. $25 instead of $45.

I bought them and let the cashier wrap it in gift paper. Jasper was already waiting outside, a can of _Minute Maid_ in his hand. He handed me the drink, I handed him the package. "For the trouble," I just said. I knew he would understand what I meant.

"Thank you," he said with a smile on his face. He put the package in his jacket pocket.

"He'll open it when we're home," Alice told me.

Then she pulled me to the next store. There we found a comfortable coat for the winter and a nice dress I could wear when I visited the Cullens' house on Christmas Eve (Alice insisted and said she'd seen already that I would be there).

Next stop was a big book shop. I felt a lot more comfortable here.

"Get all the books you like," Alice told me and wandered off on her own toward the magazine section where Jasper was already standing, a motorcycle magazine in his hand, as far as I could see. I didn't need to watch Alice to know what kind of magazine she would pick.

I strolled off to the classics section. _Alice in Wonderland_ caught my eye. I picked it off the shelf and took a look at it. I was surprised when I saw that it was an edition from 1898. On the cover, there was Alice, chased, or rather attacked, by flying cards. That picture let me think back to the nightmares I'd had these past couple of months. They had been chasing me, too, encircling me with no way out. I checked my feelings. No pain, so Jasper still must have been controlling my emotions.

Then I remembered the dream I'd had last night. Had I really seen Edward when he had been human? He hadn't looked younger than 16 or 17. So that must have been shortly before the Spanish influenza. But he had looked completely healthy. I pondered. How fast was a disease like Spanish influenza able to spread and break out? I tried to remember the history class I'd had back in Phoenix. We had covered the Spanish influenza there. If I was not totally mistaken, an estimated total of 50 million people had died of it in less than three years back then. So it must have been really fast.

I thought further. He and the other students had worn school uniforms, so he must have gone to a private or a boarding school. I was sure I had seen girls in my dream, so it must have been a coed school. I wondered if Carlisle could tell me more about Edward's human life.

I turned my attention back to the books. Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle, Agatha Christie, they were all there.

I suddenly felt the urge to go back to my childhood. Where the life and the world still had been parts of a fairytale. I picked out the _Alice in Wonderland_ book I had had in my hand earlier. I checked the price. $145. I wondered why it was here. Such an old edition belonged in a museum or an old antique library and not in a bookstore. Something so old fit perfectly in the Cullen house. Not because of the age of it, it was clearly modern, but of the age of its residents. I also got myself _Peter Pan_, _Fairytales by the Grimm Brothers_, _Winnie the Pooh_, _Pinocchio_, _The Wizard of Oz_ and _The Jungle Book_.

When I turned around to go back to Alice and Jasper, Jasper was already standing there. He held out his hand and I handed him the books. We slowly walked to the cashier and he payed the books and a few fashion magazines Alice seemed to have chosen. He also got a newspaper for himself.

"Where's Alice?" I asked him when I couldn't spot her outside.

"Already in the next store," he answered, grabbing the handle of the shopping bag the cashier handed him. When we spotted the pixie vampire in the next store, she was in the jewelry section, looking at necklaces, the Burberry bag in her left hand.

"Hey, what do you think about this?" she said, holding up a silver necklace with a beautiful silver pendant in shape of a lion. I gasped. Did she know about my and Edward's reference to ourselves as the lion and the lamb?

"It's beautiful," I said. Not even Jasper's power could hold back the sorrow and the tears this time. I turned my back to her to wipe the tears off my face and could hear her say "This one, please" to an employee.

Jasper was standing beside me, silently supporting me. I couldn't feel his influence for a couple of minutes, but then, the familiar calmness came back.

I could feel someone move behind me. I wanted to turn around but Jasper shook his head. Two hands came around my neck from behind, one of them carrying the necklace. I stood still until Alice had secured the lock. It was a little hard to manage, even for her, since she was a few inches smaller than I was.

"Done," I could hear her say. I looked at the silver lion that now lay on my chest, unmoving. I turned around and hugged my best vampire friend. "Thank you, Alice."

"No problem," she said in her warm voice that sounded like bell chiming. "One more store and then we'll head back. You must be hungry."

I could indeed feel my tummy rumble a little.

In our final store, we bought two pairs of jeans, three sweaters, a hoody and two pairs of shoes. One for my everyday activities, the other one for Christmas Eve.

Finally, we headed back to the car. The drive was quiet. This time, Alice sat in the driver's seat. When we eventually entered Forks, I noticed that we weren't heading for my house, but for the Cullens' house instead.

"I called Charlie when you were in the fitting room of the last store," Alice said. "You're eating dinner with us. Don't worry, you'll be home shortly."

I sighed in resignation. "I really hope there's no cake involved," I mumbled to myself.

Alice snickered. Of course she heard.

The drive-way was covered in paper lanterns and there seemed to be lit candles everywhere in the house. We parked the car in the garage and got out. The Volvo stood in the farthest corner, covered in black blankets, untouched. I shot it a quick glance and then walked through the door after Jasper.

My mouth dropped when I saw the living room. Just like I had assumed, the room was full with candles. But there were also a lot of flowers, roses in every color, lilies, orchids and many, many more. And there were the Cullens, all remaining six. Alice and Jasper, who had the shopping bags in their hands, raced up the stairs and vanished out of sight.

"Happy Birthday, Bella," Esme said and stepped forward to hug me. She wore a beautiful simple purple dress. Carlisle, who hugged me next, was wearing a nice black suit and a scarf. Rosalie was even more stunning than usual in a long black dress. Emmett, who picked me up and whirled me around a little, looked really neat in dark blue jeans, a grey shirt and a black waistcoat.

I was speechless.

A few seconds later, Alice raced down the stairs, now wearing a gorgeous night blue dress and high heels, Jasper right behind her, in black jeans, a light purple shirt and a grey pullover.

Now I understood why Alice had forced me to put on that green dress she'd brought me and had styled me up a little, before we had left for the shopping trip.

"We all cooked dinner for you," Esme said with a gentle smile on her face. She lightly took my arm and led me to the dining room. Since that room wasn't used for its purpose, Edward's piano stood there instead.

Next to it now stood a big dining table that was covered with all kinds of food. There was salad, baguette bread, pasta with sauce, fish and vegetables and a few bottles with water, juice and coca cola. But the most outstanding of all those things, was a giant mountain of cupcakes with multi-colored frostings. On top of the top cupcake, which was a little bigger than the others, stuck a single red candle in the shape of the number 18.

"Bella, breathe," Carlisle told me, alarmed. For a second, I looked at him, puzzled. Then I realized that I was holding my breath. Slowly, I pushed the used air out and sucked fresh oxygen in.

"Have a seat, milady," Emmett grinned and pulled the top end chair back, which was right beside the piano. I put on a shy smile and sat down. The Cullens sat down on the remaining chairs. Alice and Esme were on the chairs closest to me on my left and my right.

I looked to the side at the piano. It was almost like I could see Edward sitting there and smiling at me.

Somehow, I felt cheerful.

I was sure Jasper didn't have anything to do with it, because I couldn't feel his influence. He had used his power on me so often the past couple of weeks that I was able to feel the difference.

It was my birthday, I was with my other family, they had spent the day to cook me this wonderful food and to decorate the house for me.

And somehow, I had the feeling Edward was watching over me.

"What would you like first, honey?" Esme asked.

I looked over all the delicious-looking things. "Some salad would be good for starters," I finally said. A few seconds later, Esme handed me a bowl with salad. "Thank you," I said and started eating.

The dressing was amazing and the tomatoes in the salad tasted like they'd been picked just a moment ago.

I tried the fish with some sauce and some vegetables next. They were perfect.

The pasta were perfectly al dente and the tomato sauce was so full of flavour that it blew me away.

I wondered how vampires could cook so amazingly when they couldn't even taste the food they were making.

Alice handed me the bread basket and I took a slice. Jasper asked me what I wanted to drink and poured me a glass of apple juice with sparkling mineral water.

When I had finished the main course, Emmett placed the top cupcake on a plate and lit the candle on it. Then he placed it in front of me and said, "Make a wish."

For the first few minutes, I was numb. My only wish couldn't get fulfilled.

But I had one other wish left. So, I bent forward and closed my eyes.

_I wish for Edward to rest in peace and that I will see him again in my next life._

I blew.

The Cullens clapped quietly. They couldn't read my thoughts but my wish wasn't really hard to figure out.

I pulled the candle out of the cupcake and took a bite. It was heartbreakingly good, fruity but not too sweet.

After I had eaten it up, Esme said, "Bella, we have one last present for you."

She stood up and offered me her hand. I took it and she pulled me up. The others stood up when we left the room, following us quietly. Only Alice strode forward and passed us. She led us through the living room and up the stairs. When I realized where we were going, I frowned in shock.

I hadn't been in Edward's room since my first visit to the Cullen house.

Alice didn't say anything when she silently opened the door. Esme and I stepped through it and I opened my mouth in amazement.

Like in the rest of the house, dozens of candles were standing here, but that wasn't what dazzled me. Edward's couch had been exchanged with a four-poster bed, the books we had bought today were sitting on a new shelf and my Christmas dress and my Christmas shoes were tidily in Edward's closet. All of Edward's things were still here; his books, his CDs, his records, his clothes, his scores and his journals.

I turned to the Cullens, a questioning look on my face.

"We've been thinking," Carlisle began. "We were helpless what to do with his things. Until we came to the conclusion that we can't throw them away."

Esme continued, "Rosalie had the idea to make this your room."

I turned to the blonde but she avoided my eyes. "I thought," she finally started, still not looking at me, "that you maybe want to come here from time to time, you know, to be near him."

I didn't know what to say.

"You can visit us whenever you want," Esme proceeded. "You can also spend the weekend nights here, that's why we bought the bed. And we thought you maybe want to take a closer looks at his things."

A thought occurred to me. "For how long?"

The Cullens exchanged puzzled gazes. "What do you mean?" Carlisle asked.

I sat down on the bed. "I mean," I said, "how long can I use this room? When will you have to leave?"

Alice sat down next to me. "You can use this room as long as you want. We're not going anywhere," she said calmly.

I frowned. "But… you're gonna have to leave one day, right? You can't stay here for more than two more years!"

"Bella." Alice took my hands. "We have decided to stay here as long as you want and need us to. Of course, we're gonna have to officially leave one day but we won't actually leave. No one ever comes out here, mostly because they can't find our drive-way, so we can stay hidden here and hunt at night. No one except you will know that we're still in Forks."

"But," I objected, "what about money? And the hospital? Even if Carlisle is still absent now, he surely wants to return to work some day."

"Don't worry about that, Bella," Emmett said. "We've got sponsors."

"And if you want me to, I can move somewhere else with Esme from time to time," Carlisle offered. "We don't have to all go."

I let my eyes wander helplessly. They all seemed so certain.

"Are you sure?" I finally said. "What if I leave Forks one day?"

"Then you can take as many of Edward's things with you as you want," Esme assured me. "And we can visit you."

For a few minutes, I didn't say anything. Then I stood up, walked forward and hugged a very irritated Rosalie. "Thank you," I whispered, tears running down my cheeks.

She curtly hugged me back and then gently pushed me away from her. If she still had flowing blood in her body, her cheeks would turn red, I was sure.


	6. Cultures

**Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:** Just in time for the 4th Advent, I present you: Chapter 5! :) Writing the first third of this chapter was, excuse my language, a real pain in the ass because I had a really bad writer's block. Well, those of you who check my profile page from time to time, know what I'm talking about. ^_^;;

Anyway, I got out of the block today, luckily. :) Or rather *checking watch* yesterday. I finished the chapter in almost a frenzy. x3 As always, I hope you will enjoy your reading and I'm really, really hoping for reviews! Even if it's just a kick in my ass because it took me so long, just leave me _something_, okay? *hopeful smile*

Enjoy! :D

* * *

**5.**** Cultures**

„You sure you got everything you need?" Charlie asked me for the third time.

"Yes, Dad," I answered patiently and picked up my backpack.

It was the weekend after my birthday and I was about to spend my first night in the Cullen house. Charlie had been surprised about the Cullens' offer to lend me _his_ room over the weekends. He wasn't really fond of it, either.

"What good does it do you?" he had asked. "You should try to get over him and move on with your life. Being in his room with all his stuff won't bring him back."

At that point, the tears had started flowing and I had had to go to the bathroom. I knew that Charlie hadn't meant to hurt me with his words, he just had been realistic. But I wasn't ready to completely let go yet. It was still too early.

We could hear a car drive up the drive-way.

"That's Alice," I said. "I'll be back by five tomorrow night."

I hesitated and then placed a kiss on Charlie's cheek. "See you tomorrow."

He sighed. "Have a good night."

It honked outside.

"Coming!" I said loudly, knowing she could hear me.

Quickly, I left the house and immediately froze.

Alice was driving Edward's Volvo.

Charlie didn't seem to be watching us, because Alice jumped out of the car and raced over to me in vampire speed.

"I'm really sorry," she pleaded. "I wouldn't have taken it if I had another option. Esme and Rosalie are in Seattle and Jasper and Emmett took Emmett's Jeep to meet a business man. And Carlisle is working the weekend shift. I've wanted to get my own car for ages, but I haven't had time yet. I can understand if you-"

"Alice," I interrupted her. "It's... it's okay. I can handle it."

She looked at me, worried. "Are you sure?"

I took a deep breath, my gaze on the car, and then nodded. "Yeah. Let's go."

We walked over to the Volvo where Alice opened the passenger door for me. I gathered all my courage and climbed in. Being in this car again wasn't as bad as I had thought. It was worse.

"I can't believe I'm saying this," I began, "but please drive fast."

Alice, already sitting in the driver's seat, nodded and revved the engine. She pulled out of the drive-way and drove down our street slowly, but once we were around the corner, where Charlie would not be able to see us, she shifted into fifth gear and sped up. I closed my eyes and tried not be overwhelmed by the car's all-to-familiar smell and sound.

After what felt like eternity, we stopped. I opened my eyes again. We were here.

I hadn't even fully unfastened my seatbelt when Alice already opened the passenger door. I climbed out of the Volvo as fast as I could and marched up to the house without looking back. When I climbed the stairs to the front door, I realized I'd forgotten my backpack.

"Don't worry, I got it," Alice said when she appeared on my side.

She handed it over and I took it, relieved that I didn't have to go back to the Volvo to get it.

It surprised me when she took out a key and unlocked the door. No one ever came to the Cullen house, because most people couldn't find the drive-way, so there was no need to lock the door, especially not when the house was inhabited by half a dozen vampires.

"Please don't ask," Alice said apologetically. "You can turn on the TV if you like. I'll go park the car in the garage. Be right back."

I nodded. When I entered the house, I heard her revving the engine once more and driving it around the corner to the garage a second later. I slowly walked into the living room and let my backpack fall into the armchair. Then I waited for Alice.

She entered the living room not even a whole minute later. She looked as relieved to be out of the Volvo as I felt. It must have been hard for her to take it.

I gave her a small smile before I followed her to the kitchen.

"Esme bought groceries for you, so I can cook you whatever you like," she explained. "Jazz bought a few cook books, so you can give them a look and tell me what you'd like to eat." She pointed over to the far-right corner of the kitchen.

I turned around and had to stop myself from snorting with laughter. _A few cook books_? I silently counted.

28 books.

When I stepped closer, I saw that every book was an expert on different cooking types. There was a book about meals with fish, meals with rice and meals with pasta, vegetarian cooking, American cooking, British cooking, German cooking, Indian cooking, Chinese cooking, Japanese cooking, Australian cooking, Mexican cooking, African cooking and lots of other different cooking types from different cultures. Plus, three books specializing in desserts.

I took a deep breath and pulled a random book out of the row.

For the next 35 minutes, Alice and I scanned the books, pointing out meals with strange names and got down to a shortlist of five dishes.

I finally decided on a spicy Spanish paella with rice, vegetables, shrimps and red pepper.

We got the ingredients together and started preparing. We didn't need the instructions in the book because Alice only needed to read it once and she knew it by heart. Plus, of course, she could foresee what we had to do. It felt weird but for the first time in a long time, I had fun.

After a while, I noticed that the pixie-like vampire tried to keep me away from anything that involved cutting with a knife. I washed the vegetables and boiled the rice while Alice cut everything that needed to be cut, faster than I could look.

Twenty minutes later, we put the pan on the herd and threw everything in. Another fifteen minutes later, the paella was done.

Alice put a big portion on my plate and we went to the living room where she turned on the TV. I sat down on the couch and started eating while we watched some random Saturday late afternoon soap operas.

Apart from the fact that Alice didn't eat anything herself, this felt like a perfectly casual and normal dinner/movie night between two friends. We talked, we laughed and I ate the delicious paella.

Shortly before I finished my meal, Alice stood up and vanished into the kitchen. I heard her moving around, cutting things and using the mixer.

I kept watching TV and waited for her to finish whatever she was doing. I found out fifteen minutes later, when she came back to the living room, carrying a plate with waffles, whipped cream and strawberries.

"There you go," she said with a large smile on her face when she handed me the plate. I thanked her and gave her my empty paella plate and she took it back to the kitchen while I started eating my dessert.

It tasted like heaven.

I finished the waffles and then returned the plate to the kitchen myself. When I entered the living room again, I collected my thoughts to tell Alice I wanted to go upstairs without hurting her feelings.

However, before I had even opened my mouth, she said, "Don't worry about me. You go ahead."

I smiled with relief, picked up my backpack, gave this wonderful immortal girl a hug and then climbed the stairs.

When I arrived at the door to Edward's room, I took a deep breath. Then I turned the doorknob and entered. I switched the lights on and took a quick look around.

The candles were gone, but apart from that, the room looked the same. I put my backpack down on the bed and started pacing the room, looking at all the things that were on the shelves and the table.

Now that I was here on my own, I was surprised at how calm I was. Just like at my birthday in the dining/piano room, it felt like he was with me.

I took a closer look at the shelves. I had had a quick look at the CDs when I'd been here the first time but I hadn't realized back then just how _much_ music there was. There was mostly classical music and piano concerts but also a few Jazz records. I looked at all the titles and took some of them out to look at the covers.

One particular CD caught my eye. It didn't have a title and it looked like it was one of those blank discs you can buy at stores. I pulled it out and looked at the cover. Indeed, it was a blank disc. I opened it to see if there was anything burned on it and gasped.

There was just one word written on the CD, one word in Edward's beautiful, unmistakable handwriting.

_Bella_.

I took it out of the CD cover, inserted it in the CD player and pressed Play.

I was breathless when the lullaby Edward had written for me started playing.

Alice's voice made me jump. "He wanted to give it to you at your birthday." I whirled around to see her standing in the door, her hands intertwined. "He wrote a few more songs for you, I think there are nine tracks in total on it."

I pressed the jump forward button, to listen to the second song. This one was a lot faster, with a lot of alternating notes which were interrupted from time to time by a note that didn't quite fit with the others. I had the amused feeling that this piece was an emphasis of my clumsiness.

I gave all the songs a listen. Some were slow, some were fast and some were changing from the one thing to the other but they all somehow seemed to be about me.

Alice stepped beside me, smiling. "He knew you don't like presents, but he thought you wouldn't mind something he made by himself. Plus, it doesn't count as a present if it's not wrapped, does it, he said." She giggled a little but her smile dropped again soon after. "I really wish he could have given it to you himself."

I just nodded.

"Bella, I'm gonna run over to the hospital," Alice said. "Carlisle called, he has to work over night and needs a set of clothes for changing. Will you be ok on your own?"

"You tell me," I responded with a light grin.

She smiled. "Yeah, I think you will. I won't be gone for long; I'll be back before you know it."

"Ok," I said.

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, which made me blush a little, and then she was gone. Not even a whole minute later, I could hear a revving engine, there was a flash of light outside and then the sound of the Volvo vanished into the distance.

I played the CD back to the first track, my lullaby, turned down the volume a little and then proceeded to Edward's journals.

I pulled one off the shelf but didn't open it. It was old, with crispy pages that smelled of age. _1967_, it said on the front. I turned it to look at the back. In the bottom-left corner, there was _Edward Cullen_ written on it. I put the journal back on the shelf and then pulled another one out, one that was more to the left. This one said _1945_. The year of the end of World War II.

I wondered how the battles and bombings around the world had been for the vampire race. It probably had been a feast for them, especially for those in Germany. Half-dead people and blood everywhere. It must have been like Christmas, Thanksgiving and Halloween put together to them.

I put the book back and looked how far back the journals went. The very oldest of them was so outworn that almost all of the pages were loose. _1918_ was written on it, with Edward's full human name, _Edward Anthony Masen_, on the back.

I felt a little disappointed. I had hoped that there would have been at least one journal from his human life among them, yet the first entry was dated _December 2, 1918_ and started with the sentence _I have never written a journal entry in my life, but Carlisle, my new father, says it is important in order to remember everything correctly._

The dreams I've been having the past week had made want to know everything about his human life. I kept seeing a human Edward in some sort of private boarding school, since he was wearing a school uniform there. A uniform that had some irritating elements. For one, the students at that school seemed to wear four different color combinations on their ties. Edward's tie was yellow-black but there also had been ties that were red-gold, blue-silver and green-silver.

Another element were the coats they wore. Well, they weren't exactly coats, more cloaks. They certainly didn't look like normal pieces of school uniforms and they, too, had badges of not only four different colors, but also four different symbols sewn on them. It had taken me a while that those symbols were animals and an even longer while to figure out, which animals. There were a lion, an eagle, a badger and a serpent.

Something else that was puzzling me was that I only saw short segments of Edward. It was like I saw him through another person's eyes and only when that person was near him.

I had considered asking Carlisle about Edward's human years, to see if my dreams were really about them, but I had decided to check his journals first for clues. But since there were no records of his human life, I would've had to ask Alice after all.

I hesitated when I turned my eyes back to the page again. Would Edward mind me reading his diary if he had been here? But then again, I had to remind myself, he wasn't entirely in the position to complain, since he had spied on me while I had been sleeping, to find out everything there was to find out about me.

So, while I waited for Alice to return, I turned page after page, diving into Edward's history.

_December 2, 1918_

_I have never written a journal entry in my life, but Carlisle, my new father, says it is important in order to remember everything correctly. I have never believed in vampires, or any abnormal creatures for that matter, let it be werewolves, fairies or dwarfs. _

_But now I am one of the creatures I have never believed in. I am a vampire._

_Does that mean I have to stop believing in myself now? To be honest, I do not know. I do not know what to believe anymore._

_Carlisle tried to explain everything to me but even now, almost two months after I have woken up in this life, there are still so many things I do not understand. _

_Immortality comes with many overwhelming things. Suddenly, darkness is as bright as the light of day and I can hear rain coming from several miles away. My physical strength has increased so much, I can hardly believe it, and I am able to run so fast, even Carlisle is impressed with my speed._

_But the most outstanding ability I have gained is more than I could ever have imagined. I am able to read people's minds. And not just humans' minds, but vampires' as well. _

_However, being a vampire is incredibly frightening, too._

_Carlisle has shown me how to hunt. He only hunts animals, instead of humans, and he told me everything about himself. His history is incredible._

_I am not able to control myself around humans yet, so we are staying in places far away from society for now. From time to time, we travel closer to cities and villages, in order for me to get used to smelling human blood._

_It is so hard to resist the one thing you want the most. I have slipped several times, unsurprisingly. Luckily, Carlisle was able to stop me every time before I could hurt someone._

Fascinated, I kept reading. In that one month in 1918, Edward had filled the whole journal. Sometimes, the ink was a little hard to read, but I was able to get everything from the context. I lived through Edward's struggles from the first few months of his vampire life, the blood lust, the thirst and Carlisle, always by his side to help him.

When I turned the last page of the first journal, I immediately put it back on the shelf and grabbed the next one, eager to read more.

I read how Edward had adjusted his mind reading abilities, how he had met the great vampire leaders, the Volturi, for the first time and how Aro, who seemed to be kind of the spokesman of the three leaders, had wanted him to join their ranks, because of his power. How resisting human blood hadn't gotten any easier over the years but he had kept trying no matter what.

The day Esme had joined them was a very positive and happy journal entry.

I carefully read some entries, while I just quickly scanned others. My heart made a leap, every time Edward mentioned bits of his human life. He didn't write much about it, though. He mostly mentioned memories of his mother and father, but he didn't write anything about his school days.

I was confused when I saw that _1927_ had only three entries and that _1928_, _1929_ and _1930_ were missing entirely. Desperate for an explanation, I picked up _1931_ and quickly started reading the first entry which contained only one sentence.

_October 27, 1931_

_I have done terrible things. _

I turned the page.

_November 25, 1931_

_I can not explain how I could have been so wrong. I must have been so frustrated that it was still so hard for me to control my thirst that my mind must have started playing tricks on me._

_I thought it reasonable to kill humans. Dangerous, evil humans, but humans nonetheless. _

_For the past four years, I have been playing God. _

_What has gotten into me?_

Next page.

_December 12, 1931_

_Carlisle says he understands. How can he be so calm? How can he – and Esme – forgive me so easily?_

The rest of the journal was empty, so I took the one that said _1932_ on the cover.

_January 4, 1932_

_From 1927 to 1931, I have killed a total of 128 humans. It does not matter that these humans were evil, that they have done things to other humans that even shock me. It was wrong of me to kill them. Terribly wrong. Carlisle and Esme might have forgiven me for what I have done but I will never be able to forgive myself. I have learned something in these four years._

_When I was turned into this monster, I lost something I never thought I would miss. _

_I lost my soul._

_If I am ever to leave this world, I shall rot in Hell forever, making amends for my sins._

I remembered now. The day I had told him that I knew what he was, he had mentioned that he had killed humans before.

My heart ached in pain. Was that where he was now? Was Edward in the fires of Hell?

The thought alone was unbearable. I shook my head. No way. If there really was a God, He wouldn't let that happen, would He?

Yet, He had taken Edward away from me.

I looked at the book in my hand. Suddenly, I wasn't in the mood to read about this, for me unknown, history. Instead, I decided to skip ahead to a journal entry that was both happy and the beginning of the path to Edward Cullen's doom.

The day he had met me.

It didn't take me very long to find the entry in the journal that said _2005_. I began to read.

_January 18, 2005_

_I have to leave town. I'm going to visit Tanya and her sisters to get a clear head. I don't know yet if I'll go back to Forks. I need to leave. I can't let Carlisle down again._

The next entry started right beneath this one.

_January 21, 2005_

_I can't explain why I react so strongly to her blood. I've met so many humans, what is so special about her? What I know is that I _want_ her. I want her blood, more than I've ever wanted anything._

Beneath the next date, there were only three words.

_January 24, 2005_

_Isabella Marie Swan_

I quickly turned the page.

_January 25, 2005_

_I've never met a human like Bella. Why can't I hear her thoughts? This human has to be the most interesting creature I have ever met. _

Date after date, I discovered Edward's side of our story together. After a while, I realized to my amazement that Edward must have fallen in love with me before I had fallen in love with him.

Just now I understood how frustrating it had been for him not to be able to read my mind. What had made him climb to my window every night to hear me sleep-talk.

It was like I knew Edward Cullen a whole lot better now.

The last entry was from the night before the baseball game.

I looked at the empty pages after that entry, lost in thought.

I wondered what would have happened if he hadn't been destroyed. Would we have graduated together? Would he have agreed to make me like him? Would we have been together forever?

I didn't realize that I had fallen asleep until a hand lightly shook me on my shoulder.

"Bella?" a deep voice spoke.

I narrowed my still closed eyes. That voice... "Edward?" I mumbled sleepily.

There was silence for a few seconds. Then the voice spoke again. "I'm sorry, but no."

I forced my eyes to open.

Jasper was beside me, a worried look on his face. "Are you okay?" he asked.

I stirred stiffly and stretched my numb legs a little. I looked around. I was still holding the last journal in my hand, sitting on the floor beside the bed. I tried to find a watch or a clock to check the time.

Assuming what I was searching, the blond vampire said, "It's almost two am. Emmett and I just got back. Alice wants to know if you'd like a cup of hot cocoa before bed?"

He helped me up and I sat down on the bed while he put the journal back on the shelf.

"Um, sure," I mumbled after yawning deeply.

Jasper nodded and left the room. A moment later, Alice walked through the door, carrying the cup with steaming cocoa.

"Be careful, don't burn yourself," she said when she handed it over slowly.

"Thanks," I responded and took a slow and careful sip.

Alice let herself sink on the bed beside me and kept me company while I drank my cocoa. I took my time. I had become quite cold from falling asleep while sitting on the floor and the cocoa wonderfully warmed me up quickly.

I remembered something when I handed the empty cup back to Alice ten minutes later, so I stopped her before she had walked out of the door.

"Alice!"

She turned around. "Yes?"

I hemmed and hawed a little. "Um, do you know anything about Edward when he was in school as a human? You know, not long before he was turned?"

Alice made a puzzled face. "Why do you ask?"

I shook my head. "Nothing in particular. I was just wondering how school was for him before he had to do high school over and over again." I grinned innocently.

"Well," she said, before she wished me a good night and closed the door behind her, "before he was a vampire, he didn't go to school. The Masens had a house teacher."


	7. Doubts

******Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:** Sorry for the delay! Semester break had caught me lazy. ^_^;

But here it is! Bella's starting to doubt her dreams. For those of you who are asking yourselves when we will finally enter the Harry Potter world, I promise you, it won't be long anymore. :) Next chapter will be a turning point and we will depart the Twilight universe at the end of chapter 9, I'll tell you that much already. ;)

Enjoy this chapter and please take a few seconds to write a review! :)

* * *

**6. Doubts**

It didn't make sense. How was I able to see a human Edward in a school when he had never been in a school as a human? And yet, I had seen him again in my dreams. Edward as a human, in a school among other students in school uniforms.

When I had woken up, I had started to doubt what I was dreaming. Were they just that then? Dreams? Something my mind had come up with to help me cope with my loss? Perhaps some sort of wish for him to have a happy human afterlife? A happy life without me?

No. Certainly not.

It was not that I didn't wish him a happy afterlife. I just couldn't cope with the idea that he might have a happy afterlife without me in it. I wanted to hold on to the Edward who had loved me, until the very end and, hopefully, beyond.

But what were my dreams then? When I got up to dress and went down to eat breakfast, my thoughts kept spinning. The Cullens were up, of course, and when I entered the living room, Alice had already set up my breakfast on the table in front of the couch. Emmett was sitting on it, playing a video game, while Jasper read the newspaper in the armchair. Carlisle still seemed to be at the hospital and Rosalie and Esme seemed to not have gotten back from Seattle yet.

"Good morning, Bella!" Alice greeted me happily. "Did you sleep well?"

I smiled and rubbed my eyes. "Yeah, ok."

„Morning, marshmellow!" Emmett said, not taking his eyes away from the screen.

Jasper looked up from his newspaper. "Hey, Bella."

I waved at both of them and then sat down next to Emmett, letting my eyes wander over the breakfast dishes. There was orange juice, toast, scrambled eggs, butter, different kinds of jelly, even a glass of this hazelnut spread with that black and red logo that was so popular all over the world. I opened the glass, dipped my knife into it and licked a little of the spread off it.

Wow. No wonder people liked this stuff so much. While I spread some butter on a slice of toast and covered it with the delicious substance, I watched Emmett play.

I wasn't exactly familiar with video games since I'd never played one apart from the old _Mario_ on a very old Gameboy when I had been little. Emmett was driving a race car through the streets of a big city, knocking other cars over while doing so. There were also people with guns, firing from time to time.

I swallowed the piece of toast I was chewing and asked, "What game is that?"

The answer to that was that Emmett smashed his car into the next building and let it blow up. He turned to me, an unbelieving look on his face. "You don't know what _Grand Theft Auto_ is?"

I froze, looking innocently. Then I slowly shook my head.

His expression became scandalized, his mouth wide open. "Okay, missy," he growled, deeply offended, throwing his controller into my lap. "You're on."

Jasper chuckled lightly and put the newspaper down. Nervously, I watched Emmett get another controller and resetting the game. I bit off a big chunk out of my toast and took a large sip from the glass with my orange juice afterwards. I had a feeling that the bear-like vampire wasn't going to let me eat properly for a while.

Indeed. For the next half hour, Emmett explained everything I needed to know about the game. The background, the missions, the characters, the cars and everything else he thought was significant. Then I had to start playing.

The controls weren't as difficult as I had first presumed, so I got used to them fairly quickly. This game was fast, violent, exciting and almost downright brutal. And it was the most fun I had had for months. Two hours after we had started playing, my stomach started to protest. Two bites of toast and a sip of orange juice just hadn't been enough.

Ironically, it wasn't me who discovered how hungry I was, but Carlisle, the second he walked through the front door.

I turned around when I heard his desperate "Bella!". Still paralyzed by the game, I looked at him in poor confusion. He was shaking his head, an amused expression on his face. "Bella, can't you hear the turmoil your stomach is creating?"

Surprised, I looked down at my tummy, only to hear it growl like a lion. Emmett started chuckling. "Aw, Bells, I'm so sorry, I should have let you finish your breakfast first."

I grinned lightly. "It's fine. I'm just sorry everything got cold." I looked down on the table to find it completely empty.

"Not to worry," Alice's voice sounded from the kitchen. The tiny woman emerged from it a second later, holding the plate with the scrambled eggs in one hand, while carrying a glass of water in the other.

"I saw this coming, so I kept the plate warm in the kitchen," she said when she put them down on the table in front of me. "Oh, and I'll prepare lunch for two o'clock, if that's okay. Pasta Puttanesca."

"Sounds great," I said smiling while I picked up my fork.

"You don't have to feel bad," Alice suddenly said. "You know, I love cooking for you, right?"

I stared at her. "How did you-?"

She shot a side glance at Jasper who was hiding behind the newspaper again. "He felt it and was planning to tell me. You really don't have to feel the need to help me with everything, so I won't feel like a servant. I'm a vampire, remember? I can handle it." She encouragingly nudged my chin and then jumped on Jasper's lap, crumpling the newspaper.

"Hey, I wasn't finished with that," the blond protested.

"The _Mariners_ lost 6-7 against the _Texas Rangers_ yesterday, and they will also lose today's game against them by 6-8. Tomorrow's game against the _Toronto Blue Jays_, however, will be a win by 7-5," Alice started summing up. "That reporter that got lost on a hike last week and was found on Wednesday got released from the hospital yesterday afternoon and will return to work tomorrow. He'll be perfectly fine, good thing I tipped them off where to find him. And this week, we'll have an average temperature of 64°F and, shocker, rain. You want me to go on, darling?"

We all burst out in chuckles. "No, thank you, ma'am, I think I'm good," Jasper said, shaking with laughter.

Shaking my head, I bent over my plate and started eating the eggs. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Carlisle's posture stiffen a little. Just when I looked up at him, he turned around and made his way upstairs, probably to his office. If I hadn't known better, I could have sworn I'd seen tears in his eyes.

Hastily, I finished my meal and rushed upstairs barely ten minutes later, with the excuse of having to visit the bathroom. Of course Alice would know what I was really up to and the others would, too, once they realized that I was, in fact, heading for Carlisle's office.

Once there, I knocked on the door.

"Come in," I heard his voice from inside.

Carlisle's office was on the shadow side of the house, so it was a little dusky inside. He was standing at his desk, his back to me, fumbling with several sheets of paper. When he spoke, he still didn't look at me.

"What can I do for you, Bella?"

After I had closed the door behind me, I hesitated for a moment. "I...," I began, "I just... wanted to see if you're okay, Carlisle."

Several seconds passed before he finally turned to face me. I gulped. Even with the lack of proper light I could see that Carlisle's eyes had darkened. In the literal sense. I didn't dare come closer to him, knowing what it meant, so I merely waited.

"I'm sorry, Bella," he finally said a few minutes later. He took a deep, unneeded breath and lowered his head. When he looked into my eyes again, the honey was coming through in his again, but they still looked pained.

I lightly shook my head. "Don't worry about it."

He sat down on the edge of his desk and I slowly moved to join him. When I had settled down, I looked at him worryingly.

"It's just," Carlisle began, "at times like these, when I see my children laugh, and I count you as one of them, it always reminds me anew that one of my children isn't here anymore. That I will never see him laugh again."

The agony in his voice stung my heart. Carlisle was such a wonderful, caring and loving man. It hurt me to see him like this.

"I'm happy when you're happy," he continued. "But even now, months later, it just overwhelms me sometimes." He lowered his head again, turning his face away from me.

I was speechless. I had never seen him this vulnerable and I was shocked and painfully happy at the same time that he trusted me enough to show me this side of his. Without further hesitation, I pulled my originally supposed vampire-father-in-law-to-be into a hug. Tears started to stream out of my own eyes.

"It's alright, Carlisle." I whispered to prevent myself from sobbing. "Out of all of us, you knew him the longest. It's normal that you need time. More time than any human possibly has to cope with a loss." My body shook with my sad chuckle and I pulled away to face the vampire. "I mean, take me for instance. As much as I would like to believe otherwise, I'm more than certain that it will take me a lifetime to get over his death. If I'm even able to get over it at all."

The corners of his mouth crawled upwards into a sad smile. "Oh, Bella," he said with a nearly broken voice while he started to gently wipe the tears of my face with his hand. "Wonderful, human Isabella. Believe me when I say that you are the strongest creature out of all of us. I'm glad Edward got to meet you. That we all did. I couldn't be more proud to call you my daughter." He placed a soft kiss on my hair and gave my chin the same nudge Alice had given me before.

"You should go back downstairs," he said with a light grin. "I'm sure the others are trying their best not to listen in but even the best efforts can turn into defeat." He shot me a small, fatherly wink. "I'll be right down. Esme and Rosalie should be back soon."

I smiled and left the room, carefully closing the door behind me. While I walked down the stairs, I suddenly remembered something. On the first day of school, when Alice and I had sat in the cafeteria, Alice had told me that Carlisle's self-control had weakened because of the grief and that he had stopped working because of it.

I jumped down the last two steps and walked over to her. Emmett was playing on his own again and Jasper was nowhere to be seen. I signaled the pixie to come to the garage with me and headed to the door. The Volvo was covered again. I tried to ignore the car and sat down on the storage cupboards at the wall. Alice closed the door and hopped onto the spot beside me.

"How long has he been working again?" I asked her.

"About a week and half," she answered. "He didn't feel exactly ready yet but he can't live without it, either. It seems to help him, though. He says, being around blood again is both a relief and a curse. He doesn't have to think while he's working, he just lets his 'medical instincts' take over. We were worried at first that he might snap, of course. But it keeps him busy."

I nodded, "Seems we're all pulling ourselves together." I rubbed my eyes.

Alice groaned and hopped to the ground. I looked at her, confused.

She broke out giggling. "Geez, Edward would laugh at us if he could see us like this!" To my astonishment, she raised her hands and slapped her own cheeks. "Okay, done with the misery! Esme and Rose just pulled up the drive-way, they'll be here in a sec. Let's show them some happy faces!"

I snorted and jumped off the cupboard, just to twist my ankle in the process. "Ow!" I winced and started hopping on one foot. Which just made us laugh even harder. When the garage door opened a few seconds later and Rosalie's red convertible came driving in, tears of laughter were streaming down my face.

"What's gotten into you two?" a grinning Esme asked as she got out of the passenger's seat. Rosalie climbed out of the driver's seat, trying to hide her smile.

I had to soak in a few streams of air before I could answer. "Twisted my ankle."

"Bella just is and stays clumsy," Alice teased. "Really, you would make the most embarrassing vampire of all time."

Laughing, Esme pulled me into a hug. "Did you sleep well, honey? You look a little tired."

"I'm okay," I responded, trying to keep my balance. Rosalie stood beside Alice, naturally keeping her poker face. "Hey, Rosalie," I greeted her.

She threw me a curt smile. "Hello, Bella."

Esme bent down to look at my ankle. "We better take this inside." Without the slightest effort and to my great shock, she lifted me up in her arms and carried me inside the house. There, she gently put me down on the couch, after shooing Emmett away.

"Now let's see." Carefully, she let her cold fingers glide over my ankle and pressed them on my skin here and there to see if there was any more damage to it. "Like you said, it's just a twist. It should be fine again within the next hour. Do you want me to get you some ice?"

Alice appeared on her side. "That's okay, I can just hold it, that should be good enough, too." She grinned at me before she lifted up my legs, sat down on the couch and placed them on her lap. Her hand carefully enclosed around my ankle, numbing away the pain with the coolness of her skin.

"So, how about a movie?"

~x~

_March 28, 1953_

_The most incredible and confusing thing happened today. After hunting, I came home to find my room completely re-decorated by a vampire called Alice. She claims to be able to see the future, based on people's decisions, whatever exactly that means. She says she saw us in a vision and that she and her mate, Jasper, were to become a part of our family. As if five vampires in one coven weren't enough already. _

_Alice is really, well, to be frank, weird. It's like she knows everything about us already. Jasper is really quiet. From what Alice told us, he can control moods. I'm torn. On one hand, I'm happy that I'm not the only "__special" one in the family anymore. On the other, however, can we really, entirely trust them? Time will tell, I suppose. I'm willing to give them a chance. Alice seems easy enough to like._

I smiled. Alice's encounter with the Cullens really had been something. I could almost picture Edward's expression when he had found out that not only his room had been claimed by a total stranger, no, same stranger had also claimed to have seen him and the rest of his family in a vision of the future and basically had known everything about them before they had even met.

I suppressed a giggle. Hearing the story from Edward's point of view was even funnier than Alice's already extremely hilarious version I had heard on Halloween several weeks before.

A look at my watch let me jump. Was it really half past seven already? Quickly, I closed the journal and jumped on my feet to put it back on the shelf. Oh, Charlie would so not be pleased. I hastily picked up my bag, rushed out the door of Edward's room and jumped down the stairs to the living room, taking two steps at a time. With my luck, it was a miracle that I didn't stumble, fall or break anything.

"Alice!" I called out loudly when I saw her and Rosalie reading in a fashion magazine on the couch.

The pixie looked up at me questioningly and then at the digital clock on the satellite receiver, only to jump up in a rush. "Oh my god, I'm sorry, Bella, I totally forgot the time!"

"I know, me, too," I said and waved Rosalie good-bye before I stormed to the garage, Alice on my heels.

"Don't worry, you'll be home in time," she promised and unlocked the door to her brand-new midnight blue Lexus GS300.

For the past two months, I had spent every weekend at the Cullen house, spending time with them and reading Edward's journals. History was a fascinating thing when you read it through the eyes of someone who had actually lived it. I didn't read them in chronological order; instead, I had been jumping between the decades.

The Cullens had traveled a lot. They had been to Alaska and Portland several times, had spent a few winters in New York and had even lived in London for a few years in the eighties. They had visited so many cities in so many countries that I was starting to feel envious. To have all the time in the world to see the world was something that still appealed to me. But even so, I didn't see the point in it without Edward with me. Both Esme and Carlisle had carefully asked me if I would be willing to think about getting turned, even without Edward, so that I could stay with them. Alice had added that maybe, one day, I would meet someone else to love, if I just had enough patience.

I had promised them I would think about it but I already knew that I wouldn't even consider it. I knew I wouldn't be able to love anyone else as much as I had loved Edward. And I didn't want to spend the rest of eternity mourning him.

"Here we are! See, I told you we would make it in time," Alice's cheerful voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Thanks, Alice," I smiled, hugged her and got out of the car, my school bag on my shoulder.

"Have a good dinner!" she said and waved at me before I closed the passenger's door and she pulled out of the drive-way.

I jogged up to the front porch and opened the door. "I'm home!" I called out while I took off my shoes, my warm jacket and threw my bag into a corner.

Charlie came out of the kitchen. "Happy Thanksgiving," he said with a light grin on his face.

That was when I noticed the smell. Looking at him unbelievingly, I passed him and entered the kitchen. "Did you make a turkey?" I choked, trying to hide my amusement. There indeed was something covered by kitchen foil on the counter that looked like it could be a turkey.

I turned around to face my father. "Dad, did you really manage to cook something without burning it to crisp?"

He cocked his head and looked at the ceiling innocently. "Well..."

"Oh, Charlie, don't get even started, we all know you can't cook, so don't even try to hide the fact that Sue made the bird," a voice sounded from the hallway. Half a second later, Billy Black wheeled into the kitchen, Jacob right behind him.

"Happy Thanksgiving, Bella," he said, holding out his hand to me.

"Billy, Happy Thanksgiving," I said in surprise, shaking his hand, then nodding at his son. "Hey, Jacob."

"Hi, Bella," he responded, trying to act cool.

I had to hold in my snort. "So, you're joining us for dinner, then?"

"Well," Billy said with a side-look to my Dad, "Charlie didn't exactly have a choice. When I told him on the phone that Sue Clearwater was so nice to make an extra turkey for us, he had to invite us. I hope you don't mind."

"No, of course not." I smiled at him.

"Alright, let's get started then," Charlie said, rubbing his ear.

Billy and Charlie set up the table while Jacob unwrapped the bird and I prepared some sauce and salad.

"Geez, who's supposed to eat all that?" I said when I looked up from the bowl in which I was putting together some salad dressing to look at the turkey. "That thing must weigh like what, ten to twelve pounds?"

Jacob chuckled. "More like thirteen or fourteen," he grinned. "But don't worry, I've been having a healthy appetite lately. I should be able to take this thing down."

Indeed, he seemed to have bulked up quite a bit since last time I had seen him. He certainly wasn't the little kid anymore I had walked with on the beach more than half a year ago. The one who had told me what the Cullens were, not knowing that the stories of his tribe were true. Well, the vampire part anyway. The wolf part I wasn't sure about.

Ten minutes later, we all sat down at the table and, after a Quileute prayer to thank the great spirits for the meal by Billy, started eating. I wasn't a big eater of meat and I would call myself a vegetarian if I weren't looking forward to the Thanksgiving turkey every year. That, I just couldn't resist. Renee had questioned in the past if I wouldn't call myself a veggie anyway, since I only ate meat once a year. But that didn't seem fair to the turkeys; at least, I had always thought that as a kid.

The table topics were harmless. The _Mariners_, fishing, the latest news from La Push and Forks and stuff like that. But after a while, I couldn't help but notice that Billy kept eyeing me from time to time, when he thought I wouldn't see it.

And then, sure enough, after Jake had indeed taken the last of the turkey down and we were having dessert, hazelnut ice cream from the fridge, did Billy change the subject.

"So, Bella," he began, trying to sound casual, "Charlie tells me you're still hanging around with the Cullens a lot."

I froze, almost choking on my spoonful of ice cream.

"Yeah," Charlie said dryly, taking a sip out of his beer can. "She's been spending every weekend at their house for the past two months."

"Really?" The Quileute narrowed his eyes. "Please don't get me wrong, but I would have imagined that being in their house would awaken too many painful memories about... you know... _him_."

Charlie eyed me carefully. I could tell he was holding his breath. When I didn't answer, he jumped in instead.

"Well, I thought so, too," he admitted, not taking his eyes off me. "But it seems to help her. She's been getting better lately. The nightmares also seem to have ceased." He sighed. "I don't know what you guys are doing on the weekends, but I'm happy that you're feeling better now. You can tell the Cullens that, too."

I slowly nodded, my mind dumbstruck by his confession.

"Okay then," Billy announced after a few seconds of silence. "We should get going. Jake."

Hastily, Jacob jumped up from his chair to help his father put on his jacket. After he had put on his own jacket, he wheeled Billy to the front door, opened it and carefully wheeled him down the two steps on the front porch. Only now did I notice Billy's truck in our drive-way.

While Charlie helped Billy on to the passenger's seat, Jacob heaved the wheelchair on the storage platform in the back.

"Thanks for inviting us," Billy told Charlie and they embraced in a short man-hug.

"Tell Sue thank you for the turkey," Charlie said and closed Billy's door.

"Sure will do," Billy nodded and then gave me a curt wave, a polite smile on his face. "Happy Thanksgiving, Bella."

I nodded nervously. "You, too. Bye, Jake."

Jacob came around the car and pulled me into a hug. "See ya, Bella."

He climbed into the driver's seat, revved the engine and shifted into reverse. And then they were gone, leaving an atmosphere that could hardly be any more awkward.

Charlie scratched the back of his neck. "Well, that last bit was weird." He turned around to face me with a puzzled expression. "He really doesn't seem to like the Cullens. I wonder what they could have possibly done to him."

I shrugged, trying to hide my true knowledge. "Beats me."

We cleared the table and washed the dishes in silence and then both headed up to our beds.

The evening must have left me completely startled and confused; or I must have gone completely insane.

Because, that night, I dreamed about Edward fighting a _dragon_.


	8. Christmas

******Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:** SURPRISE! Tomorrow (February 10) is the official last day of this semester, today I had my exam presentation. I'll be told tomorrow if I passed or not, but anyway, I'm finally free! This chapter is finished so quickly due to the fact that I had already written a fair amount of it before the hiatus.

I hope you enjoy it! Happy Reading!

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**7. Christmas**

„Hey, Alice?"

„Hmm?"

„You don't happen to know... if there are any dragons, do you?"

Alice looked up from the porcelain angel she was holding and threw me a confused look. "Dragons?"

I nodded silently.

She snorted. "I'm sorry, Bella, the world may be crazy with vampires and werewolves in it, but it's certainly not that crazy."

"That's a no, then?" I concluded, blushing with embarrassment.

"That's a no," the vampire confirmed and put the angel back on the shelf, her eyes still on me. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, thinking back to the dream I'd had two nights ago. "Nothing really. I was just wondering what other mythical creatures might exist, since vampires and werewolves are real."

She pondered. "Well, dragons definitely don't exist. Fairies, as well."

"Bigfoot?" I asked jokingly.

She shook her head giggling and then proceeded walking down the aisle, looking at Christmas decorations. "Oh my god, look how cute this reindeer is!"

I smiled to myself and walked over to look at the little reindeer figurine. Inside my head, I was buzzing with questions. So there were no dragons. I had seen a human Edward fight against a creature that wasn't real. Insanity had taken over me, of that I was certain now.

Why else would my head make things up like dragons?

Edward had fought a dragon that had been a good twenty feet long, with two horns on its short snout. Somehow, he had turned a rock into a dog (which was just another sign of my insanity) and let it distract the dragon while Edward himself had slowly and carefully made his way over to a huge stack of big eggs, one of which had been golden. I had jumped in my sleep when the dragon had lost interest in the dog and turned around, only to burn one side of Edward's face with its fire.

This time, I had been sitting in a crowd around the stadium in which the fight had taken place. I could hear sounds in my dreams clearly now, but it still always became fuzzy and hard to make out when someone spoke. Gasps and screams had dominated the scene, sometimes interrupted by a few hard-to-understand commentaries until cheers had broken out when Edward had finally collected the egg.

Just before I had woken up I had realized that this fighting dragon thing must have been some sort of competition or tournament, because someone had shouted something like "And now the marks!".

I sighed. Figuring out what these dreams meant was impossible. But not thinking about them was also impossible because I had them nearly every night. Although the dragon dream had been the first clear dream since the one I'd had on my birthday. All the other dreams were merely glimpses of him, each one not longer than a few seconds, like the one last night. People had seemed to be cheering about Edward's victory over the dragon two nights ago. Something I had noticed before but I only now was sure of was the certain fact that I was seeing him through the eyes of someone else in that school instead of being a universal watcher.

I wondered who that someone could be. I didn't even know if I was male or female there. But I had the feeling that it was a girl. The person I was in the dream didn't seem to be a friend of Edward because I only saw him from afar and never talked to him.

Alice pulled me out of my thoughts again when she held a tiny Christmas elf figurine under my nose. I gave her my opinion on it and she put it back.

Thanksgiving had only been two days ago and Alice was already full of Christmas plans. Apparently, it was the only holiday they celebrated once in a while. Not every year, obviously, but every decade or so. Esme, who was three aisles down, looking for Christmas cookie recipes for me, loved the planning, too.

"Bella, honey." I jumped when she suddenly appeared at my side, holding an open Christmas baking book in her hand.

"Would you rather like these star-shaped cookies with hazelnut or..." She quickly flipped the page, "... these moon-shaped ones with coconut?"

"The hazelnut ones," I said promptly. "I have a coconut allergy."

"Oh, that's good to know," she said, surprised. "Hazelnut, then."

She turned around and went back to the cooking book aisle, her nose deep in the book. I smiled at that. My favorite vampires were so human sometimes. Even _he_ had been in some situations.

"Why don't you say his name out loud? _Ed_-ward."

I whirled around, my heart racing.

"Bella?" Alice, who had heard the sudden quicken of my heartbeat, was at my side in a flash, Esme right behind her. "What's wrong?"

Wide-eyed, I looked around me, my pulse still accelerated. But there was no one. A few rows down, there were a few mothers with their children, but no men.

The voice that had spoken had been that of a man. Sickeningly sweet, similar to James' voice, but with something like a British accent instead of an American one; and irritatingly high, almost like a boy's voice. The kind that could make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

"Nothing," I finally said, my eyes breaking away from their search. "Nothing, I just thought I heard something."

Both women looked unconvinced but let it go.

"Come on, I think we have everything we need for now," Alice said and put her hand on my arm. "We can come back next week. Let's go to the register."

The line wasn't very long. Esme paid for her two books, one for baking, the other for cooking and Alice bought some gift wrapping paper and ribbons.

When we headed out to the parking lot, I was still thinking about the voice. Someone knew who I was and who Edward was. Probably even knew _what_ Edward was; or rather had been, I acknowledged with a painful stab in my chest. On our way to Alice's car, I kept looking around, scanning every male face I saw, but none of them noticed me.

"You can go in, we'll put our shopping in the trunk," Esme offered.

I opened the back right passenger door and climbed in. Once I was sitting and buckled up, I let out a deep breath, closed my eyes and let my head fall back to the head rest, barely paying attention to the two vampires.

"Would you like to see young Mr Cullen again, Miss Swan?"

I let out a shriek of panic and jumped, my head spinning around to the seat beside me. I exhaled a sharp gasp when I saw that, once again, no one was there.

Another scream escaped me when the car door across from mine was opened and Alice's concerned face looked in. "What happened?"

"Didn't you hear that?" My face must have been a mask of terror because her face became even more worried.

"Hear what, honey?" Esme's voice made me jump. I hadn't heard my car door open. She reached over me, unbuckled me and gently pushed me further into the car, onto the other seat, only to climb in herself and sit down next to me, buckling both of us up.

Alice closed both doors and then sat down behind the steering wheel.

"That voice!" I answered while she revved the engine and pulled out of the parking lot, onto the highway back to Forks.

"What voice?" Esme looked puzzled.

I gasped out more air and held my head, grabbing a fistful of my own hair, trying to get my thoughts in order.

"There was a man's voice," I finally started explaining. "First in the store. He said Edward's name. Then right here in the car, asking me if I would like to see _young Mr Cullen_ again, as he put it. He called me _Miss Swan_."

"I didn't hear anything," Alice said confused, looking at me through the rearview mirror.

"Neither did I," Esme confirmed. Then she frowned. "I don't like this. If you didn't just imagine this-"

"I didn't," I pressed. "Really, that wasn't just my imagination. I heard that voice as clear as I'm hearing yours now."

Alice and Esme exchanged glances.

"You don't believe me, do you?" I realized.

"It's not that," Alice assured me, looking back to the highway.

Esme hesitated. "Honey," she finally began, "when there is something a human hears that a vampire doesn't, then that's very worrisome, to be honest. It doesn't happen very often, never actually, unless..."

"...unless the person is crazy, I get it," I stated, turning my head away.

"We're not saying that you're crazy, Bella," Alice exclaimed. "We actually thought you were feeling better since... since he's gone."

It took me a moment to realize what she was saying. I blinked. "You think my mind made this up because I can't cope with _Edward's death_?"

God, I hated tearing up when I was angry.

"Take me home," I said, still not looking at them, when we passed the _The City of Forks Welcomes You_ sign. "I'd rather spend the weekend at home."

Alice didn't say anything and kept driving. When she pulled into the drive-way of my house, I got out of the car and walked up to the front door without giving them a second glance.

I stopped when I opened the door and then muttered, "See you at school."

I could almost see Alice's sad smile when I heard the engine howl and the car pulling out and speeding down the street. Then I closed the door behind me.

In the weeks that followed, I heard the voice several more times. At school, in the cafeteria, in the bathroom and at the diner. But never at the Cullen house. Once I had discovered that, I spent as many nights as I could there.

Esme welcomed me back with open arms and no hard feelings. Alice and the others never mentioned the voice in my presence, although I was sure she had told them about it. I knew they thought it was because I was missing Edward so much and that the voice wasn't real but actually, I _had been_ feeling better. The dreams were helping me. But I had the feeling that voice might have had something to do with them.

Why I thought that? Because the voice often referred to my dreams.

_Did you enjoy seeing Edward tonight?_

_Didn't he look dashing in that uniform?_

_Ever wondered why he never smiled at _you _like that?_

A few of the comments were almost perverse and they gave me the creeps whenever I remembered them. There was something strange, though. The voice called Edward many names; Edward, young Mr Cullen, sweet Mr Masen and, which was somewhat disturbing because I would never call him that, Eddy. Not often, but sometimes, though, the voice said Ceddy instead of Eddy.

I had looked up what name it could be the short form of and only found the names Cedar, Cerdic and Cedric. Last one was the name of a character in a novel by Sir Walter Scott and probably based off the second name, Cerdic. Cedar was an old English name that was used very rarely these days, as far as I knew. What was certain was that all three names were rather unusual for the 21st century, but of course they wouldn't be as unusual at the beginning of the 20th century.

I had begun to doubt that it was the early days of the last century, though, because I had noticed a lot of the students wearing wristwatches. After a short research, I had found out that wristwatches _had been_ available in those days, however, most men had refused to wear them because they thought they were too effeminate.

In Edward's school, though, girls and boys alike wore them, so that couldn't be quite right. Of course there were also a lot of students who didn't but that wasn't the point. The wristwatches looked too modern. None of them were digital but they still looked way beyond the time they had been invented. A few of the smaller kids wore wristwatches that reminded me of those I had worn in the 90s, when I had been a kid myself.

Which had reminded me that I was behind in my Christmas shopping. Alice had been only too happy to take me with her and Rosalie to Seattle to buy some presents. Rose had been nice enough to help me choose gifts for her family, Alice, who knew of course what she and the others would be getting the second I had decided on it, staying silent and just wearing the knowing smile that we all just rolled our eyes about.

I had gotten Carlisle a new medicine book that had just come out, a necklace for Esme, a video game for Emmett, new car engineering tools for Rosalie, a leather jacket for Jasper and an antique ring for Alice that I had discovered in an old store while Rosalie and I had waited for Alice to finish her own shopping.

As for my human friends; Angela would receive a new adventure novel, Mike a CD, a completely platonic present I hoped, and an action movie DVD for Eric.

Last but not least, I had bought Charlie a _Seattle Mariners_ baseball cap and a gift card for two tickets to a game at next year's world season, so that he could go with Billy Black; for Renee, I had made a scrapbook with photos of my year in Forks and I had gotten a book about the minor league baseball teams in America for Phil.

I had used up all my savings from my job and a certain amount of my college fund for the presents, but I didn't regret getting them.

When Christmas Eve arrived, Alice's excitement was on its high.

I had been hesitating to tell Charlie about me spending it at their house but when I had gotten downstairs in the morning of the 24th of December, he had just gotten off the phone with Esme who had invited him to join us.

So, when 6.30 pm had arrived, Alice had put me into the dress we had bought on my birthday and done my hair, only to vanish out of the window when Charlie had called if I was ready.

Now, we were pulling into the Cullens' driveway in his police cruiser. Along the sides of the road, no longer surprising for me, were colorful light chains and mistletoe.

When we got in sight of the house, both Charlie and I gasped. The house looked like the home of Santa Clause himself. There seemed to be light decorations everywhere, golden like the sunset in Florida on the photos Renee had sent me. In the snow before the front porch, there was a Santa Clause puppet on his slay, a big pouch in the back and all eight reindeers, plus Rudolph, in front.

Charlie put the car into park and we climbed out; I could hear the faint sound of Christmas songs from inside the house. My father was somewhat frozen beside the car door and unsure what to do, so I went around the cruiser, took his arm and led him to the front door, which was promptly opened by Alice before I had had a chance to knock.

"Merry Christmas!" she squealed happily and pulled me into a hug.

"Hey, merry Christmas," I smiled into her shoulder and then pulled away to look at her. My jaw dropped when I saw what she was wearing.

"Too much?" she asked, pouting a little. She took a step back and spun around in a perfect pirouette.

"You take Christmas seriously, that's for sure," Charlie stated, his eyes fixed on Alice's Christmas elf dress, the fake pointy ears and the hat.

"Oh, just a little," Alice giggled and then pulled both me and Charlie inside the house.

Or rather, the come-to-life Winter Wonderland. The inside was almost completely covered in fake snow, not to mention the fairy lights that hung all across the room. You would think that one Christmas tree would be enough to get you into the spirit, but of course it wasn't enough for Alice Cullen. Pine trees of almost every size stood in every corner, decorated beautifully with everything that belonged on a Christmas tree. The largest tree, however, stood in the living room, where the rest of the family was waiting.

To my relief, Alice was the only one dressed as a Christmas creature. The men wore suits, while Esme and Rosalie rocked two stunning gowns. Still, I could feel how Charlie got more and more uncomfortable by the minute. I knew he would rather spend the evening at home or in La Push with Billy and Sue than at what looked like a Christmas benefit gala.

"Merry Christmas, Charlie," Carlisle said with his brightest smile and stepped forward to shake my Dad's hand.

I used this opportunity to pull Alice aside. "Don't get me wrong, Alice, I think it's really nice that you invited Charlie, but how in the universe are you guys going to cover up that you don't eat when Esme, I'm sure, prepared a five-course Christmas dinner?"

She forced a smile. "It's not going to be pleasant but we chose to actually eat."

I gulped. Edward had explained to me once what had to follow after vampires ate food. "My deepest condolences to your stomachs. How long can you keep it in? Are you sure you want to do that?"

Now Alice grinned. "Emmett's gonna run into the woods the second you and Charlie are out the door. We all agreed to it. Just for you."

I forced myself to smile this time, nodding my head quickly. "Geez, thanks so much, I'm… flattered," I said in a sarcastic voice.

Alice laughed and took me by my arm, dragging me over the others. "Come on, let's get this party started."

And what a party it was.

I had been wrong when I had guessed how many courses there would be. The Cullens, knowing they could keep down only that much human food, had prepared only three courses. The first course was a light soup, followed by a surprisingly humble goose (alright then, maybe I ate meat twice a year) with vegetables and gravy.

I didn't know if it was just my imagination but I had the feeling that with every bite, Emmett was getting even paler than he already was.

Carlisle and Esme tried to loosen Charlie up a bit by asking him questions about his work, his hobbies and possible dates. Intimidated as he was, he nodded politely and spoke only as much as was really needed.

Emmett and Alice tried their best to make everyone laugh by sharing stories from past Christmases. I noticed that from time to time, Alice had to correct Emmett with places and such, because he almost revealed certain details about times he couldn't have been alive yet, were he really the age he was frozen in.

Fortunately, Charlie didn't seem to notice.

By the time dessert (vanilla ice cream with hot raspberries; that would be a pain for the Cullens to get back up, I could imagine) was almost finished, my father seemed up and about to escape from the house. And to be honest, I couldn't agree more. Most times, I only shook my head about how hugely Alice handled events, but this one had been gigantic and fairly uncomfortable, even for her.

Sometimes I wondered if you really forgot so easily how humans felt about certain things when you were a vampire.

"Well, thank you very much for dinner," Charlie said when he got up from his chair and shook Carlisle's hand again.

"It was really good, Es- Mrs Cullen," I quickly corrected myself. I never called Esme or Carlisle by their first names when others were with us, especially my Dad.

"Please, honey, don't mention it, it was our pleasure," she reassured me and gave me a hug. "Will you come over next week? Oh, and how about New Year's?"

"Um, I don't know yet," I said, avoiding Charlie's gaze while Esme gave him kisses on both cheeks.

"Oh, you have to come for New Year's Eve, Bella, I already have everything planned!" Alice objected and hugged me.

"I'll let you know," I giggled. "Bye, Emmett, bye, Jasper. Rosalie."

The guys waved, but Rosalie, to my surprise, pulled me in and kissed me on the cheeks.

"Merry Christmas, Bella," she said and then pulled away.

"Merry Christmas," I responded, smiling, and turned to Esme and Carlisle. "To you, too, Merry Christmas."

We were already headed for the door when Alice squealed, "Oh, I almost forgot! Wait a second!" She ran to the living room in a human pace and was back shortly after, carrying two wrapped presents. She handed the bigger one to Charlie and the smaller one to me.

"Oh, I really can't-" Charlie began but Alice interrupted him, "I won't accept No for an answer. Merry Christmas, Chief Swan!"

For a second he looked like he might drop the package but then he said, "Thank you. I'm sorry I don't have anything in return."

"Don't worry about it," Carlisle said. "Having you and Bella over for dinner was all we could hope for."

"Just don't open them before tomorrow, okay?" Alice said with a strict voice.

"'kay," Charlie said and stepped out onto the front porch after Esme had opened the door for him.

"Thanks, Alice," I said. "I'll get back to you about New Year's."

"Okay, bye!" she said energetically with a beaming smile on her face. "Get home safely!"

She closed the door behind us and we made our way to the car. Before we got in, I took a quick look at the trees in the direction of the backside of the house, and sure enough, although I wasn't completely sure if it was just my imagination, I thought I saw a big silhouette speed through the tree trunks toward the river. Poor Emmett.

"Good night, Bells," Charlie said when we parted ways in the hallway of our house twenty minutes later and headed over to his bedroom while I entered mine.

For a second, a memory of Edward waiting for me in the armchair clouded my eyes, but I pushed it away quickly.

I changed into my PJs, brushed my teeth and then sunk into the salvation of sleep. In the dream that awaited me this night, Edward was dancing with a very beautiful Asian girl at a ball. Even asleep, I felt the painful stab in my chest. He looked so happy and excited.

The hall was amazingly decorated, very similar to the Cullen house, just on an even larger scale. There were hundreds of people, girls wearing beautiful dresses, the boys long robes that looked a little bit awkward on some, very handsome on others. Edward looked handsome, of course.

Something was off, though. The pictures didn't come in as clearly as they used to and there was some sort of shadow. I couldn't really put my finger on it.

Until I woke up.

First, I didn't know what had woken me. But then I noticed the faint whisper in the air. It was the voice again. I listened, holding my breath, trying to make out what it was saying. And then I understood.

I climbed out of my bed and walked over to the window to look outside. And almost froze in fear when I saw the figure that was standing beneath the trees behind my house. A hooded figure. I was just standing there, but I could feel its gaze on my skin. It was like an ice-cold breath. And the voice continued.

_Come_, it whispered.

_Come to me._

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Only Chapter 8 and 9 are left in the Twilight world, Chapter 10 will be a bridge and in Chapter 11 we're finally in the Harry Potter world! Stay tuned! And, since Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I wish all of you lovebirds an early Happy Valentine's Day!


	9. Recognition

******Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N: **A shorter chapter but a very important one. Have fun! Please review! :)

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**8. Recognition**

I was ninety-nine point nine percent sure that I was dreaming.

My breath came out in steams when I left the house but I couldn't feel the cold. While I made my way toward the hooded figure, the whispers continued, always the same three words: _come to me_.

I felt strange, not entirely myself, like I was still in the body of my dreams. When I was only a few feet away, the figure turned around and started gliding toward the forest behind my house, vanishing between the trees only seconds later. I walked faster and tried to keep up with him.

"Wait!" I called after him but the man – at least I assumed it was a man – did not stop.

Something was not right, I could feel it.

"Wait!" I called again and the strange feeling grew. Something was off, I knew it, but I was unable to put my finger on it. I lost sight of the hooded figure several times but every time I thought I had lost him for good I would see the tip of a cloak brush a bush in my peripheral vision and immediately ran after it, calling out to him from time to time, even though he never stopped.

Finally, after what felt like over an hour, I could see the man stop in a small clearing. I picked up my speed and ran the last few yards until I climbed over a tree trunk and saw that he wasn't alone. Beside him on the ground lay something white and big, unmoving. When I crept nearer, I realized that it must be a horse.

"Is it dead?" I asked before I could stop myself and immediately covered my mouth with my hand in shock when it finally dawned on me what was wrong.

The voice I spoke with wasn't my own.

I looked up at the figure I had been following and tried to make out the shapes of a face but beneath his hood was only darkness.

"Who are you?" I asked and had to notice that my accent wasn't my own, either. I sounded British.

The man smiled – at least I had the strong feeling that he was, I still couldn't see his face – and answered in the high voice I had been hearing the past couple of weeks, "I am merely but a part of the soul of a man who has no body of his own, locked inside an object that can cross the borders between the worlds of the living and those of the dead."

I stepped around him to take a better look at the horse. It was clearly dead, I could see that now. And now that I could see its full head, I saw that it wasn't a horse at all. Atop its forehead, the creature had a twisted ivory horn that had a mystical glimmer about it. There was a deep slash on its neck out of which a large puddle of a silver liquid was leaking.

"Unicorn blood," the man confirmed what I had already been guessing.

I kneeled down and dipped my finger into it to take a better look at it. That was when I noticed my reflection. I stumbled back, gasping.

I hadn't realized that I was wearing different clothes, I had been concentrating on following the man so that I wouldn't lose him. I was wearing brown pants and a knitted turtleneck shirt with a very old-fashioned looking pattern on it. My hair was shorter and curly, also a little bushy, and of a lighter brown then my usual dark brown hair, very close to a dirty blonde.

I crawled back to the puddle to look at my face. The girl I saw was younger than I was, maybe fifteen or so.

"Her name is Hermione Granger," the man said.

I looked up at him.

"She's not from this world but from a parallel universe, a parallel Earth, the same Earth I come from," he continued and raised his right arm. In his hand was a sort of long wooden stick. He waved it and an image appeared in thin air.

It was the human Edward from my dreams.

I rushed to my feet and stumbled over to the image. Edward was smiling and moving only slightly, like he was posing for a picture. I raised my hand and tried to touch it but it went right through.

"What are you?" I asked the man behind me and turned toward him.

"I'm a wizard," he said promptly.

A frown crept on my face. "A wizard?"

The hood moved up and down a little. A nod.

"Are you saying that magic exists?" Why wasn't I afraid? I was completely calm even though all my senses urged me to be scared.

"In my world, it does," he said. "Your world doesn't have magic in its purest form, it is dulled down and weak, yet it is strong enough for the existence of vampires, shape-shifters and werewolves. Without the tiniest bit of magic, you never would have met your Edward. If magic didn't exist in some way in your world, he would have died by the influenza; there would have been no Carlisle to turn him. Carlisle himself never would have lived for so long, he never would have been attacked by that group of vampires because those vampires never would have existed. He would have died of old age. A gruesome thought, don't you think? Death."

I didn't answer.

He didn't seem to notice, instead he continued. "Of course, the boy you see in the image behind you is not Edward."

I frowned again and turned to look at the image.

"The name of this boy is Cedric Diggory and he is a wizard, like me," he went on. "The girl you are right now, Hermione Granger, is also considered a witch, even though she is just a mudblood. Her parents have no magic, she's not wizardborn," he explained when he saw the confused look on my face.

I didn't know if being a mudblood was a bad thing but it sure as hell didn't sound like a compliment. That him saying this word had a very snide and poisoned tone to it only strengthened my assumption.

I cleared my throat. "What do you want from me?"

Again I had the feeling that he was smiling. "Oh, but this is not about what I want. It's about what I can do for you."

"And what is it that you can do for me?" I gulped slightly.

"I can bring him back."

For a second my brain couldn't grasp what he was saying. "Bring… him… back?"

"Yes," he confirmed. "I can bring your precious little Edward back to life. In all his sparkly vampire-glory."

I stared at him blankly, my insides completely numb. Then, slowly, from deep within my body, the core of my heart, a fire started to burn, spreading quickly. Within a few seconds, my entire soul was burning with the recognition of what he had said.

_He could bring Edward back. _

I didn't have to mourn him for the rest of my life – I could see him again_._ Like an explosion, my heart burst to life and all the emotions I had buried for the past six months came breaking through all at once. Mixed among them was a feeling I had almost forgotten. _Hope._

"Of course I can't do it right now," the man continued. "As I told you before, I am merely a part of the soul of a man who has no body of his own and is currently unable to do such powerful magic. Therefore, I am going to have to demand a favor of you in return."

"What favor?" I asked with suspicion.

"I need you to come to my world and help this man to regain his body and full power," he said. "Then he will be able to give you back your precious love."

I absorbed his condition for a moment. Then I asked quietly, "Do I have to come with you right now?"

His chuckle let my back shiver with anxiety. "No, you don't. I'm not able yet to transfer you to my world. One of the servants of the man I am part of is preparing the transfer as we speak."

I nodded, a little relieved. I wouldn't have felt good with the idea of leaving my world behind without further notice. Charlie would go crazy.

"I will let you know when the time has come. Until then, try to learn as much as you can from your dreams and try to prepare whatever you have to prepare," the man said. The way he said it was strange, like he was forcing himself to be polite.

I nodded again.

"I will leave you a little something, so you will know when to expect my return." He glided up to me in complete silence.

The motion startled me and I stumbled backward a little bit.

"Now, now, don't be afraid, little muggle," he said.

And then his hand shot forward and grabbed my arm.

* * *

**The next chapter is the last one in the Twilight world. After that comes the bridge and then finally the first chapter in the Harry Potter world. Stay tuned!**


	10. Farewell

**Reminding Disclaimer: **The idea for this FanFiction is not mine. I wrote this story after the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:** I'm so, so, so sorry, guys, I didn't realize that it's been half a year since I last updated, I feel so ashamed! I really hope you can forgive me! ;_; Please, enjoy this chapter!

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**9. Farewell**

I woke up with a start, a low scream erupting from my throat and my breath coming out in gasps. My hand flashed to my arm and pulled the sleeve of my PJ top up. My panic that what had just happened might have been just a dream was lifted when I saw that there was something tattooed on my skin. It was a skull, a human skull. And there was something coming out of its mouth. First I thought it was tongue, but when I brought my arm closer to my eye, I realized that it was a snake.  
Footsteps erupted outside of my room and a second later, Charlie opened the door, a worried look on his face. "Hey, kiddo, are you okay?"  
"Hey," I said and hastily pulled the sleeve down to cover the tattoo. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just a bad dream."  
"Again?" He came in, leaving the door open behind him, and sat down on the edge of my bed. "The time of bad dreams seemed to be over and I was hoping it would be permanent. You seemed better."  
"I was," I nodded and turned on the lamp on my bedside table. "I am. It was just a dream. I'm okay."  
He didn't look convinced. I didn't blame him. Until my dreams about human Edward—, I mean Cedric Diggory, had started, I had woken Charlie with my nightmares about Edward's death so many times that he'd had trouble to fall asleep at all for a while.  
"Really," I assured him. "Don't worry. Go back to sleep. Besides, it's Christmas!" I reminded him.  
A humorous grin crept on his face. "You're right. Merry Christmas, Bells."  
"Merry Christmas, Dad," I replied and let him hug me, glad that I'd changed the subject to something he genuinely enjoyed.  
"Alright then," he sighed when he finally pulled away. "I'll try to get some more sleep."  
"Okay." I pulled my blanket closer and watched him get to his feet. "Good night."

Sleepily, he grunted a short answer and left my room, pulling my bedroom door shut behind him. I settled back down on my pillow and took a look at the tattoo again. It looked a little creepy, I had to admit. Part of that was because it didn't look new, as it should; on the contrary, it looked like I'd had it forever. The man had said that he would contact me when everything was ready, so I supposed the tattoo would do something when the time had come. I wondered how long it would take. Already, I could feel a fire of anticipation burn inside me, mixed with fear and anxiety. Now that I knew that Edward could be brought back — even though I didn't have the slightest idea, how — I could barely stand the idea of having to wait several hours, if not days or weeks. The way the man had made it sound, it might take a while.

It took a while for me to get back to sleep. My thoughts kept wandering back to my encounter with the strange man. When slumber finally claimed me, it was anxious. I didn't have any dreams this time and even asleep I couldn't shake off the feeling my encounter had left behind.

It was almost noon when I woke up again. From downstairs, I could hear Charlie tinkering around in the kitchen.

"Hey, Bells," he greeted me when I stepped into the kitchen in my PJs and handed me a plate of scrambled eggs. They even looked decent, burnt only ever-so-slightly.

As we sat down at the table, he looked at me with a worried look. "Had any more nightmares last night?"

I shook my head and started eating. The eggs didn't taste bad, either. A big improvement for my father. "Did you open your present from the Cullens yet?"

"Nah," he answered, mouth half-full. "I wanted to wait for you."

We were done with our brunch ten minutes later and headed over to the living room to open our Christmas presents. Charlie had put both our presents from Alice under our tree, along with those we were giving to each other. The latter ones, we opened first.

"Wow, thank you so much, Bells!" Charlie exclaimed when he saw the gift cards and immediately put the baseball cap on his head. "What do you think? Do I look hot?"

"Dashing," I answered with a light laugh. I got a hold of his present for me when he handed it to me. It was rectangular, about eight inches tall and five and a half inches wide. The wrapping had been applied clumsily and was easy to peel off. When I saw that it was a picture frame with the back to me, I flipped it over to look at the picture and gasped lowly. It was a picture of Edward and me at Edward's piano. It must have been taken the first time Edward had taken me to his house. Edward was concentrating on his play while I was sitting next to him, watching his hands glide over the keys. The scene had a bluish luminous light coming in from outside, half-hidden by the window covers. It looked like a scene from a novel.

"Alice took it last April," Charlie said quietly. "She came by the police station a couple of weeks ago and gave it to me. Somehow she knew I was having trouble finding a present for you and suggested you might like this."

When I didn't answer, he added, "It's a really nice picture."

"It's beautiful," I agreed slowly, still not able to take my eyes off it. After quickly blinking away my rising tears, I looked up and smiled at him. "Thank you, Dad, it's perfect."

I closed in the space between us and embraced him tightly, shutting my eyes.

"You're welcome, Bells," he mumbled into my shoulder and then pulled away. "Now, shall we see what Alice got us?"

"Okay," I nodded and picked up my box while Charlie picked up his. "On three?"

My father nodded and started the countdown. "One. Two. _Three_!"

Hastily, both of us ripped away the wrappings. In my hand lay a small cardboard box from an expensive-looking jeweller. When I pulled the lid off, it revealed an elegant ring box, with a small note on top. _For Bella, the woman I consider my sister and a part of my family_, it said in Alice's beautiful handwriting. A little nervously I pulled the box open. Placed on a white velvet bed was a beautiful silver, antique ring, on top of which imprinted was the Cullen crest, the lion with the hand on top and the three three-leaf clovers below. Carefully, I took it out and held it up to take a closer look. It was gorgeous. After moving my slender pearl ring that was on my left forefinger to my right forefinger, I let the Cullen ring take its place, only to notice that it looked wrong there. I pulled it off again and then put it on my left ring finger. There, that looked better.

"Woooah," Charlie broke out and I looked up to him. In his hands was the framed picture of a _Seattle Mariners_ baseball player, with an autograph scribbled across it.

"Who's that?" I asked and crawled closer to him.

"Ken Griffey Jr," Charlie answered breathlessly. "He was the best player in the 90s and the _Mariners_' best player in general. Where the hell did they get that?"

I smiled. "Car-, Mr Cullen probably knows someone who knows someone who knows someone else who knows that guy."

"That's _amazing_," he said, not taking his eyes off the picture. "You tell Dr Cullen and his wife thank you when you're there on New Years. That's an extremely generous present."

"I will," I nodded.

Apparently, Emmett had met Ken Griffey Jr several years prior, before the Cullens had moved back to Forks, as Carlisle told me a week later during the New Years party. I wasn't really into sports, never had been, so the details slipped from my mind the second we changed the subject. Compared to Christmas, the New Years party was really pleasant. We played a lot of board games, pulled fire crackers and exchanged stories about previous events during New Years. I was keen to hear how people had celebrated in Carlisle's first few centuries, especially going from one century into the next.

All in all, it was a very fun night. The start of school, however, was not as fun. My mind wasn't able to wrap around studying when I could be called to another world at pretty much any second. So far, the tattoo hadn't done anything. Granted, it had only been a little over a week since my encounter with the man, but I found myself impatient time and time again. In the middle of January, Jacob Black started coming to our house more often to hang out with me. He said that he missed me and that he wanted to get to know me better but I had a certain feeling that Charlie had something to do with it. Though he seemed more okay now with me spending time at the Cullen house and reveling in memories of Edward, I knew he hadn't stopped worrying about me.

Since I knew that I wouldn't be in this world much longer, I didn't complain. I had been quite worried about Alice finding out what I was up to but she didn't seem to have a clue, probably because there wasn't a departure date yet, as well as nothing solid on how I was going to get to the other world.

I was surprised when Jacob asked me if I wanted to go on a date on Valentine's Day with him.

"It doesn't have to be super-serious," he said with the sunny smile on his face. "We can just grab a bite to eat and hang out. I know you're still getting over … you know. So, if you agree and don't like it, we never have to do it again. No hard feelings. And if you do like it, well … what's the harm?"

In the end, I agreed because Mike had been making a few new advances in the past couple of weeks and I wanted to shut him up.

On February 14, at six o'clock sharp (because it was a school night), Jacob drove up the drive-way in Billy's truck to pick me up.

"Have fun, Bells!" Charlie called after me as I shut the door behind me after I'd heard Jake honk.

While I was walking down the steps at the front porch, Jacob got out of the car to open the passenger door for me.

"You look nice," he said, examining the light blue blouse and and the dark gray skirt skirt I was wearing beneath the winter coat Alice and Jasper had bought me on my birthday. I didn't trust my balance enough to wear heels, so instead I was wearing flats.

"You, too," I acknowledged. He was wearing black pants and a rusty brown plaid shirt under a dark brown leather jacket. I also noticed that his hair was short now. The air was quite cool, so I buttoned up my coat and hopped onto the passenger seat. Jacob closed the door and got into the driver's seat, starting the engine.

"Where are we going?" I asked, trying to sound enthusiastic. It had been almost two months now since my dream encounter. I was really getting impatient.

"You like Italian, right?" he countered.

I nodded.

"There's this great Italian place in downtown Port Angeles," he explained and looked at me for a moment. "Do you know it?"

My heart sank. "The _Bella Italia_?"

He grinned. "Yeah, that's the one. Ever been?"

"Once," I said hesitantly. "With ... him."

Jacob looked taken aback. "Oh. I didn't know that. If it's too painful for you, we can go somewhere else."

I was surprised at how considerate he was. He seemed to have matured a lot in the past few months. Though I couldn't help but notice that whenever I talked about Edward, his face seemed to darken. It didn't take me long to realize why. Of course. I was on a date with Jacob Black and again and again I talked about my dead boyfriend. I should learn a lesson or two about considerateness from Jake.

"No, that's alright," I finally said. "The mushroom ravioli there are really good, I could use another dose." Of course, at the time, I had been too busy paying attention to Edward to really register how they had tasted. But I was sure they were good.

"Okay, great." His face lit up in his sunny smile. We were on the highway now, so he accelerated, as much as the truck would let him. "I wish this car would go faster."

I grinned. "Well, it's definitely faster than my truck."

He made a face. "Yeah, but still too slow. I hate driving slowly."

When he saw my expression, he looked at me worriedly. "Is something wrong?"

"No," I hastily said, shaking my head. "It's just, E... someone said the same thing to me once, it just reminded me of that."

We arrived at the _Bella Italia_ at twenty past seven. Finding a parking spot took about ten minutes. As it turned out, Jacob had reserved a table for 7.30pm, so we had to hurry up the street to claim it in time. He hadn't asked beforehand how long the restaurant kept reserved tables unavailable until they opened them again for the public. Our table was located at the back of the restaurant. near the section where I had sat with Edward almost a year earlier. It was nice. The whole place was decorated in a Valentine's Day theme, with candles, roses and other things.

Incidentally, the waitress in charge of our table was the same as the one from one year ago. She looked at me with puzzled eyes until she seemed to recognize me.

"Oh!" she finally exclaimed. "You're the girl who was here last year, with that good-looking boy who died a few months ago. I was really shocked when I read about it in the paper. Such a handsome one, he was."

I didn't know what to say, so I only nodded. For a two minutes more, she kept babbling on about how she really liked Edward and how disappointed she had been when he hadn't come in again after he had been here with me, until finally, Jacob cleared his throat.

"We would like some menus, please," he said icily.

The waitress looked at him, perplexed. "Oh. Yeah. Sure, I'll be right back."

She turned around and walked away. A few seconds later, a growl erupted from Jake's throat.

"What is it?" I asked him, surprised.

He shook his head angrily. "Nothing."

I frowned. "Tell me. Please?"

His frustrated eyes flashed to mine. "It's nothing. Just something that woman mumbled."

My frown became deeper. "What did she mumble?"

Jacob hemmed and hawed for a seconds until he finally said, "She said something about how you moved on pretty quickly and how it is that you can get two, and I quote, 'hunks' in a row when you look so boring."

"You heard her mumble that from _here_?" I demanded. "I didn't hear a thing."

Jacob _had_ built up a lot over the past few months, I had to admit that. His arms and his chest had gained a lot of muscle. Already, he barely looked like the kid he had been on Thanksgiving anymore. What she allegedly had said about me, however, stung. I knew I wasn't the most beautiful girl on the market, and I had asked myself a lot of times why Edward had fallen in love with someone like me, only to stupidly remind myself that looks weren't everything, but I also didn't think that I was the ugliest creature on the planet. I wasn't exactly outstanding, not like Angela with her big doe eyes, or my mother with her charming smile, but after Edward had died, I had found a few things I liked about my own looks.

My pale skin, for example, something I had hated before I had moved to Forks and met the Cullens. Now I had to admit that it was in harmony with my dark brown hair and gave my lips a more intense flush. Plus, though it wasn't as beautiful and radiant as the Cullens' vampire skin, it made me feel a little bit more like them. My body was nothing special. I had always been slim, but the soft, wobbly kind, not the fit, athletic kind.

My thoughts were interrupted when Jacob placed his hand over mine. "You okay, Bella?"

"Yeah," I quickly nodded. "I just got a little lost in thought there."

"If it is about what that waitress said about you," he said, his voice husky, "don't pay attention to it. That stupid woman doesn't even know you."

"I'm fine," I assured him and looked up. "Oh, careful, she's coming now."

The waitress was approaching our table, two menus in hand which she handed to us. "Can I get you something to drink?" she asked a little coldly and pulled out her memo pad and a pen.

Jacob gestured for me to go first. "Um, a large coke, please," I said and she wrote it down.

"Make that two," Jacob said and opened his menu.

"Coming right up," the waitress stated and headed off to the kitchen. Five minutes later, she returned balancing a tray in her hands, with our cokes and a basket with bread sticks on it. "Are you guys ready to order?" she asked after she had safely put everything on our table.

"The mushroom ravioli, please," I told her. I was curious about how they tasted after all.

"I'd like the bresaola [air-dried, salted beef], with baked tomatoes on the side," Jacob said and handed her back our menus.

The mushroom ravioli turned out to taste really good. Jacob, too, seemed content with his meal and lightened up a lot. While we ate, we talked about school, about books and movies we liked and some other chit-chat. It was pleasant and a lot more fun than I had thought it would be. In my heart I knew that no one could replace Edward but it was really nice to have a friend besides the Cullens to talk to.

When he drove me home a little over an hour later, I tried to find the courage to tell him that. As I discovered when we drove up my drive-way, I didn't have to.

"I know you only think of me as a friend," Jacob said, a sad smile on his face. "And that probably won't change for a while, but if you're open for it ... I'd like to do something like this again. Maybe we can go see a movie next time. Don't worry," he quickly said before I could interrupt him, "it doesn't have to be a date, it can be casual, without the whole dressing up process. I'm not blind, Bella, but I also don't want to lie to you. I like you. A lot. And I would like to be more than friends with you. But if you need more time, that's fine. I can wait. But I would really like to hang out with you more often."

I swallowed hard. "It might take me longer than you can wait," I admitted. "If you were smart, you wouldn't wait at all."

"Then I suppose I'm not smart," he countered and flashed me his brightest grin.

I closed my eyes for a moment. _Please. Please let it not be long. I want to see Edward again_. "Okay, I guess we can go see a movie," I finally sighed in defeat. "I don't have much time the next few weeks, though, I'm having midterms."

"Yeah, me, too," he nodded. "I'm sure we can find a night where we're both free."

"Yeah," I agreed half-heartedly and opened my car door. "I had fun, thanks. I guess I'll see you around?"

"Absolutely," Jake confirmed and leaned over to kiss me on the cheek. "Good night, Bella."

"Night." I carefully climbed out of the car and shut the door behind me. Charlie was still up when I walked into the living room, the sound of Billy's truck disappearing in the distance.

"Did you have fun?" he asked, his eyes glinting with anticipation.

I yawned. "Yeah, it was good. I'm going to bed, I'm exhausted. Night, dad."

"Night, bells."

Before I drifted to sleep twenty minutes later, I sent out a last prayer that I would hopefully get some signal by the man from my dream soon. It would take another ten days until my prayer was heard.

On the night of February 23, which had turned into February 24 one hour earlier, I woke with a start. The wrist on my right arm was burning with pain. Huffing heavily, I pulled up my pajama sleeve to look for the source of the pain. It was the tattoo. The ink had a faint glow around it and the snake in the skull's mouth looked like it was moving. Beneath the tattoo, inky words burned themselves into my skin.

_La Push_

_Highland Point_

_1.30 am_

_I'll be waiting_

My breath caught in my throat for a moment. This was it. The moment had come. Hastily, I climbed out of bed and put on some jeans, a sweater and sneakers. Instead of the expensive winter coat, I pulled on my beige parka and grabbed my car keys and my cell phone. As quietly as possible, I opened my bedroom door and glanced out into the hallway. Charlie's door was open and I could hear him snoring softly. Tiptoeing to the stairs, I contemplated sneaking into his room to kiss him goodbye, which was risky, because I could accidentally wake him up. Eventually, with a heavy heart, I decided against it and quietly descended the stairs. For once in my life, my own body didn't betray me by making a clumsy move and I arrived on the ground floor safely. I left Charlie a note, telling him that I had to go somewhere to do something important and that I was really, really sorry that I hadn't been able to tell him sooner, that I would be back in a few days and that he shouldn't worry about me. Of course that wouldn't stop him from completely freaking out but it was the best I could do.

The thundering of the truck's engine when I started it was like a firing cannon. For a seconds, I scanned the house for any signs that Charlie might have woken up but there were none. Relieved, I put the truck into reverse and pulled out of the drive-way. While I made my way up to the highway, I remembered that Alice might see me leaving, so I tried to concentrate on Jacob's house instead of the Highland Point cliff. Regardless, fifteen minutes later, my phone started ringing.

"Bella?" Alice's worried voice blared out of the speaker when I clumsily picked up. "It's the middle of the night, why are you driving to La Push?"

"I'm gonna visit Jacob," I claimed, my voice trembling a little.

"No, you're not," she exclaimed. "If you really were, your future would be blacked out. Everything that involves Jacob Black has been a black spot for me the past few weeks."

"What?" I said, puzzled. Blacked out? "What do you mean, it blacked out? Why?"

"I'm not sure if I should tell you this," she mumbled. "Well, he's a werewolf."

"_What_?" I almost missed the exit toward La Push and had to rip the steering wheel around to make it into the right lane. My mind was buzzing. A _werewolf_? I remembered my and Jacob's walk on the beach when I had tried squeeze information about the Cullens out of him. "You mean the part where the Quileute's are descended from wolves is real?"

"Yes," Alice confirmed impatiently and groaned. "It's a long story, I don't have time to explain it right now. I'll ask you again, _why_ are you driving to La Push?"

The coastline in La Push flashed through my mind and apparently, my future settled.

"What do you want at the cliffs?" Alice's voice sounded panicked now.

This time I groaned loudly, trying to concentrate on the road. I wasn't far from the town entrance now. "I won't kill myself, if that's what you're worried about," I attempted to calm her down. Unfortunately, it didn't work.

The rustling of wind on the other end of the line told me that she was outside running now. An even louder crackling occured, which, a few seconds later, I realized was Alice's phone being passed to Carlisle.

"Bella?" his voice sounded through the speakers of my phone. "Whatever you're planning to do, please, don't do it! Don't drive into La Push. Stop where you are and wait for us. You know we can't help you past the border line to La Push, because of our treaty with the werewolves?"

I had forgotten about that part. Not far in the distance, the sign that said "Welcome to La Push" was coming closer.

"I can't," I pleaded as I stepped on the gas. "I can bring him back, Carlisle. I can bring Edward back. I'm sorry."

I hung up and cheered my truck on to drive faster, only to yelp with relief as I passed the welcome sign and entered the town. It didn't take me long to find the road that led up the hill and toward the cliffs by the shore. Highland Point was the highest cliff on the coastline and not hard to find. Between the road and the ocean was a little bit of forest, so I had to park my car at the closest point to the cliff at the side of the road and walk the rest of the way. When the tree line thinned before me and I could see the edge of the cliff, I broke into a run.

He was waiting for me, as promised.

The man wasn't as solid as he had been in my dream encounter, but more transparent and faded, like a shadow. His body was cloaked and his face hidden by a hood, just like last time.

Now completely impatient, I asked, "What do I have to do?"

His left arm reached out, his forefinger pointing to the edge of the cliff. "Jump," he simply whispered.

"Jump?" I repeated, perplex. Carefully, I stepped closer to the edge and looked down. Highland Point wasn't the highest cliff for nothing. It was really, _really_ high. And the waves below didn't look exactly friendly. I turned back to him. "And you're sure that's safe?"

"Everything has been prepared," he replied.

_Great._

"Alright then," I mumbled, turning back to the edge of the cliff. "Here goes nothing."

"_Bella!_"

My head flashed around. "What-?"

Alice and Carlisle broke through the trees like lighting bolts and yanked to a stop when they saw where I was standing.

"What are you doing here?" I shouted at them. "I thought you can't cross the border line because of the treaty!"

"No, we're not _allowed_ to cross the border line because of the treaty!" Alice shouted back at me.

Carlisle raised his hands. "Bella, please, step away from the edge."

I wasn't surprised when I realized that neither Carlisle nor Alice could see the silhouette next to me.

"Do it now!" the hooded figure hissed at me. "We only have a small time window! Jump _now_!"

"I'm not trying to kill myself, I told you!" I exclaimed. "Carlisle, I can bring him back!"

"No, you can't!" Carlisle yelled, probably louder than he had intended to, because I flinched. "Edward's _dead_! He's dead, Bella, and no one can bring him back!"

Alice head flashed around, her ears seeming to catch a sound in the distance. "Carlisle, it's _them_. They're coming."

"Bella, please," Carlisle begged. "Please don't do this."

"You don't understand." I shook my head. "I'm sorry, I have to."

I took a step backwards, just as a giant wolf with russet brown fur broke through the trees, snarling violently. Its eyes wandered past Carlisle and Alice and landed on me. Its gaze turned painful and it started to whimper. A long moment passed until the realization hit me. _Jacob_. The wolf was Jacob.

Behind him, four more wolves came out of the forest, their attention focused on Alice and Carlisle. Loud growls erupted from their throats.

"Bella," Alice pleaded again and shook her head, like she was saying _please don't_.

The large black wolf next to Jacob's wolf form lunged forward and let its jaws close around Alice's head. My mouth opened to a silent scream. My eyes flashed to Jacob.

"Jake," I whispered, the russet-colored wolf registering my voice instantly. Its ears turned up and then its eyes widened when something ripped my arms back, causing me tip over the edge of the cliff.

And then I was falling.

Before I knew it, waves crashed over me and I was underwater, the cliff now only a blurred shape above the surface. Air busted out of my mouth and created bubbles in the ocean around me. My mouth opened, my lungs sucking in, searching for oxygen. There was only water. Slowly, my consciousness faded.

Before everything turned black, I thought, _Farewell. Edward - I'm coming._

END OF PART 1

Next _The Promise_ Chapter

"Bridge"


	11. Bridge

**Reminding Revised Disclaimer: **The original plot idea for this FanFiction is not mine. This fanfiction is based on the video "The Promise - A Twilight *AU* Trailer" by preciousxrayne on YouTube. Check out the prologue for the video link. :)

**A/N:** I wanted to give a quick shoutout to Lunamoon2012 for her/his nice review! Thank you, honey!

* * *

**Bridge**

My consciousness faded in and out. I tried to open my eyes several times but failed at each attempt. It was so quiet. Peaceful. Perfect silence. For a while I just drifted, right in the middle of the ocean, just enjoying the quiet. The lack of worries. The absence of fear and anxiety. Everything I had felt for the past nine months seemed to have vanished completely.

I couldn't put my finger on how much time had passed when something finally changed. My body started transforming, I could feel it. What in my dream on Christmas had felt perfectly natural, now felt very foreign at first - the body of Hermione Granger. I could feel myself become a little smaller, younger, more petite. My facial features shifted, my hair became shorter and my perception of my surroundings grew stronger. I was still underwater, yet it felt different. Less moist. Less salty. I was breathing in and out in very small breaths and my body filled with oxygen even though I was underwater. I wasn't exactly awake, no.

After what felt like another piece of eternity, my mind started flooding with pictures. A happy young couple, holding a small baby in their arms, smiling brightly and happily. _My parents_, my mind told me. _No_, another part of my mind corrected, _Hermione Granger's parents_. The baby Hermione grew up to be a cheerful little girl, even though she was sometimes mocked by classmates for her bushy hair and her rabbit teeth. The Grangers were an ordinary, happy family.

Then the day came when a woman called Charity Burbage showed up on their doorstep, explaining that she was the professor for a subject called Muggle Studies at a school called Hogwarts, and that Mr and Mrs Granger's very own daughter was a witch. Although very surprised, Hermione became excited about herself having magic very quickly. On September 1, a few weeks before her 12th birthday, she entered the train called the _Hogwarts Express_ and drove off to the wizarding school that would change her life completely. Hermione engaged in her studies with full focus, trying to absorb everything she could. I found it curious that Hermione's and my birthdays were only six days apart, even though I was born several years after her. I realized that I must not only be traveling to a parallel earth, but also back in time. Was there another me in this parallel world? Another Bella Swan?

The pictures flashed faster. Hermione's first Halloween at Hogwarts came and passed, and the famous wizard boy Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, the kid she had found extremely annoying at first, became her best friends, closer than any of the people in the muggle world had ever been to her. The months flashed past. Christmas with her parents, the dragon called Norbert, the Forbidden Forest, then her, Harry's and Ron's adventures when they tried to retrieve the so-called Philosopher's Stone. Her second year was just as eventful until she was petrified by a Basilisk and spent several months unable to attend classes. She enjoyed her vacation in France with her parents very much and was excited to see Harry and Ron again when she came back. Her arguments with Ron over her cat Crookshanks, the temporary ending of her friendship with Ron, the Time Turner she used so she could attend all her desired classes. Then their encounter with Harry's godfather Sirius Black and the werewolf form of Professor Lupin. The escape of Peter Pettigrew and her and Harry's time travel mission to save Sirius from the Dementors and the hippogriff Buckbeak from its execution.

The Quidditch World Cup in the summer and the attacks by the Death Eaters. More and more information flashed through my mind, burning themselves into my memory until it stopped and left me to understand why I was still underwater. My mind had barely made that conclusion when something gripped my leg and ripped me away, rushing through the water, up and up until I could almost see the light.

Next _The Promise_ Chapter

"Through the Surface"


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